"Everything?" She heard the tremble in her own voice as said the word.

Jack nodded, his hands moving down her face to rest on her shoulders, "The pharmacy called me-some kind of question about the insurance." He paused, smiling, his eyes bright and shining with the possibility of tears. "It's true isn't it? You're pregnant?"

She nodded, forcing a smile as he pulled her into his arms, kissing her cheek before embracing her.

Billy walked across the room, his eyes meeting hers for a moment as he passed them. He stood in front of the window, staring out into the darkened night. This wasn't a moment he should be apart of, yet he was more apart of this moment that his brother would ever imagine.

Jack pulled away, suddenly more serious. "What happened today? That doctor that called in the medicine-that wasn't your doctor. Where did you go?"

"Actually," she sighed, bracing herself for the barrage of concern, "I went to the hospital... but I'm fine," she added quickly, attempting to quell his almost instantaneous reaction.

"What happened?" His voice was so full of concern, so full of love and trust-she felt sick. She dropped her gaze, her eyes focused on her clasped hands in her lap.

Billy turned, taking a few steps back towards the two of them. "She uh...she must have started feeling dizzy or something here because she called me and I could barely understand her." His mind flashed back to that call-the drive over, the thoughts that raced through his mind, the fears that gripped his heart-

"When I got here she was on the floor-out cold. I called an ambulance and they got her to the hospital. Stitch thought it was low blood pressure and blood sugar at first maybe stress related." Billy paused as he saw Phyllis glance up at him, "and..."

He watched as Jack leaned in to kiss her, his hand resting on her still flat stomach. "You know the rest," he whispered sadly.

Billy carefully cradled the steaming cup of tea. Jack had gone to the pharmacy to pick up the medication. He'd even asked him to stay and take care of Phyllis. His brother trusted him. It never occurred to him that he might have it in him to betray him this way-to sleep with his wife, to fall in love with her, to have a child with her.

He made his way up the steps. The guilt was horrific, but Phyllis somehow made it all worth it. One look at her and every unpleasant thought, every awkward conversation simply faded away. These moments were worth every second he had to spend lying to his brother.

Her eyes opened as she heard noise at the door. One look at her and his mind cleared.

"Here," he said, handing her the cup, "careful it's hot." He smiled. "And it's decaf..I checked."

Phyllis smiled. "Thank you." She took a small sip before speaking. "God, Billy I don't even know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything. We don't have to get into it tonight. You've got enough to deal with. I just want you to focus on you and this baby right now."

"Billy-I can't do that...we can't just pretend that this isn't happening." She stopped, watching a smile spread across his face. "Please tell me what part of this could possibly be amusing you right now."

He shook his head, laughing softly and lightly kissing her hand. "It's not...it's not funny. It's just-I mean, it's a little ironic that I spent months trying to convince you that this was real and now you're the one..."

"Billy," she huffed, her tone more exasperated than angry, "Jack's going to be back from the pharmacy soon and you want to spend time joking. This is serious."

"I know...it's very serious. That's exactly why I don't want to get into it. I want to be with you. You know that. I would love nothing more than to walk into the club and tell everyone we know that we're going to have a life together-that we're going to have a baby, but that would create chaos and heartache and stress." He stared into her eyes.

"That's the last thing you need right now. I want you with me, but to drop this kind of a bomb right now would be selfish. I'm not going to risk you or our baby for anything."

"So what," Phyllis looked at him confused, "so we just keep lying to Jack?" She took a breath, shaking her head slowly. "I don't know if I can do that. I mean this isn't just about us anymore-letting him think that he's going to be a father is...it's cruel."

His eyes held it all-the struggle, the divided loyalty, the need to protect her and their child right alongside the need to be true to his brother.

"Billy," she said softly, "Jack and I tried to have a child. We lost a child and then after everything with Summer...I just don't think I can keep something like this from him. I know that might not make sense considering what we've been doing and everything we've been keeping from him, but...this..."

She moved her hand across her stomach allowing it to rest there for a moment. "And maybe honesty will bring some good karma." Her eyes burned immediately, the thoughts she tried so hard to bury creeping their way into her mind, "maybe this time it won't..."

There was no need to finish. His arms were around her and she could hear his deep voice whispering to her. She closed her eyes willing the thoughts and fears to go away before leaning away from him.

"You understand?"

Billy nodded. "Do me one favor?" She nodded. "Get through the doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon. Just make sure everything's ok. Afterwards you call me and we'll figure out how to tell him."

Phyllis breathed in deeply. One more day.