It was so quiet in their apartment that you could hear a pin drop.

If you listened closely you could hear the sound of Jay's heart about to beat out of his chest. You could probably hear the blood rushing through her veins.

You could hear every breath that Abby inhaled and exhaled. The silence put her on edge; she wanted him to say something, literally anything would be nice. But, he stayed quiet, staring at her, waiting for the same thing.

Every loose drip from a faucet, every anxious finger of Abby's that tapped erratically against her bare thighs and every dry swallow of Jay's throat could be heard at what felt like full volume.

His words echo in her head. She's pregnant. They play on repeat. She's pregnant. Over and over again she hears it, -she's pregnant. And Abby is currently standing humiliated in a white, lace matching lingerie piece in front of the boyfriend, the love of her life who had just broken her heart.

Again.

He broke her heart again. And he didn't even rush to try and mend it. He keeps breaking her heart.

But, he said he wouldn't. Out of his own mouth, he said he wouldn't break her heart again. He said that he would help mend it. He's a good actor. He told her that he didn't know the woman he slept with and he always, always uses protection so this must be some type of joke, he must be playing a prank on her. That explains everything. This is all a joke, a trick and a hoax of some sort and to prove to him that he couldn't get one over on her, she starts to laugh loudly. Hysterically. Tears spring to her eyes as she hunches over and hits her thigh, laughing so abruptly and piercingly that it forces him to take a step back. He's confused, and he's absolutely worried about her.

"You are hilarious, Jay! You're playing a joke on me, right? This is a prank!"

He dry swallows again, but this time it's unheard because the sound of her laughing overpowers it, "I'm not joking, Abs. I'm serious. I wouldn't joke about something like this."

And she still doesn't stop laughing because there must be some type of explanation, "I must have misheard you then…" She doesn't stop laughing because whatever he said couldn't have been worse than what she thought she heard, "What did you say?" She's still smiling, the grin stretched across her entire face, from one side to the other as she waited.

"Erin, the woman that I slept with, is pregnant. She's going to have my baby."

And all of a sudden that huge smile drops. The corners of her lips once tilted up are now tilted down as she is reminded of his earlier words. She's pregnant. Abby heard him correctly the first time. She wants to be mature about this, she wants to be the woman that she thinks she is in her mind, so she keeps a straight face, she stands tall and calmly she says, "You barely know her," and Jay nods to back up her statement, "and she barely knows you," he nods again, "so I doubt she wants to raise a stranger's baby. She's getting an abortion, right? Did she schedule one?"

Jay's brain stutters for a moment, his head tilts as he takes in the look on Abby's face. She's confident behind her words, she's pretty sure that the two of them are on the same page. Jay takes a step forward, moving slightly closer to her body and for the first time since he got home, he smells the strong stench of her perfume, she sprayed so much on her body it makes him think she bathed in it. Immediately, without thought, his nose scrunches up. How did he not smell it earlier when she was closer? He must have been so caught up in his thoughts that his senses shut down. He lifts his hand to cup her cheek, caressing her skin softly in hopes that it'll keep her calm when he whispers, "Erin isn't having an abortion. She doesn't want one."

"Erin," Abby spits her name out, growing angry and frustrated with every second she's left processing this news, "that's selfish of her. Why doesn't she want one? Why would she put a child through that? Can't you change her mind? Have you tried to convince her of how stupid she'll be to keep a baby with a man she hardly knows and that she'll never have? It's not like you're going to help raise the kid," she says through gritted teeth. He's surprised she hasn't smacked his hand away, but he kind of assumes based on her words that she's angrier with Erin than with him.

He's glad Erin had the clarity of mind to realize how stupid it would be for her to accompany him.

"Abs," he raises his other hand to cup her other cheek, "I am going to help raise the kid. It's my baby," he pauses for a second, "my baby Abs. I'm going to be in its life."

She raises her hands to grip his wrists before yanking his hands away, "But…but you don't want kids! I can't believe you're seriously going to help raise a child that you don't want!"

"She barely wants the kid herself," he retorts. And while he knows that her thoughts had changed and she now wants the baby, he knows that she struggled with coming to that decision.

"…then why is she having it?"

A deep sigh is released from his mouth, "…because it's not the kid's fault we fucked up! I made a stupid mistake and mistakes have consequences."

"Look Jay," she moves both of her hands to her hips, clenching her waist as she tries to appear as threatening as possible while standing in a white, laced lingerie set, "I get you want to be responsible and do the right thing, but this is not your fault or your responsibility."

"It takes two to make a baby."

"And she should have protected herself better."

"We both should have…"

She looks taken aback, not fully understanding his last words, "What is that supposed to mean?"

And while Jay knows that her rage is growing, he fears that what he has to say next will push her over the edge, "We didn't use protection."

"…but you ALWAYS use protection," she doesn't believe him.

"Not this time."

He doesn't go into detail; he doesn't mention that they didn't use protection once that night. Multiple rounds yet not one condom was used. He knows Abby, she's emotionally fragile and he knows that she wouldn't be able to handle that. And as his last words start to sink him, he notices that the rage in her eyes slowly morphs into pain. She gets quiet and he can see the visible heartbreak painted across her face as her bottom lip trembles and tears begin to fall out of her eyes.

An involuntary whimper escaped her lips. It was brief because she sucked it back in before it could come out in full volume, choosing to silently cry instead. She doesn't want to appear weak. It's easier said than done though. His heart breaks for her. When she covers her mouth with her hand in an effort to push the cries back in, he whispers her name, "Abby," his own voice trembles.

"How long did you know?" the tears being released from her eyes start to fall like water from a dam. She isn't sobbing loudly but he knows it's only a matter of time before she does.

"Know what exactly?"

She rolls her eyes because she thinks he's playing dumb, "That she was pregnant."

And he's honest with her, not wanting to lie to her any longer, "For some weeks now, but I didn't fully believe it until she got a paternity test done. It's my baby, Abs. It's no denying it."

"…but that doesn't mean you need to be in its life!"

"It's not the baby's fault!

"So, every day," she sniffs, trying to suck the tears back in, "once the baby is here, I have to be constantly reminded of what you did. Erin," she spits out her name, "has to be in our lives for the foreseeable future," she swallows and it hurts her dry throat, "to constantly remind me that not only you slept with her, but you did it unprotected and produced a baby with her, something that I'll never have because I respected your wishes of not having children. I wanted you more than I wanted a baby and I was willing to adjust my desires because I love you. And you can't do this simple thing for me. I don't ask for much from you, Jay."

"Abby-"

She doesn't let him talk, not yet, she has more to say, "You will resent this baby. It's everything that you don't want and you're forcing yourself to be a part of its life out of some moral duty and that's not right! She's keeping the baby to keep you in her life. I can see through it all. She doesn't want the baby either but she's keeping it to keep you."

"Abby, you're not making any sense at all. When she found out she was pregnant, she didn't even know who I was, she had every intention of raising the baby alone."

"Then why didn't you let her?!"

"…because I know about the baby now? I know the baby is mine now. No matter how much I might not want a kid, or didn't want a kid, I can't go on with my life knowing my kid is out there somewhere. I can't do that."

Abby's mouth hung open as she slowly blinked her eyes, "You said you didn't want a kid…are you saying that you want one now?" And he knows what she's implying.

"I didn't want a kid at first but now that I have one or am going to have one, I don't mind the one. Just the one. No more than the one," he clarifies. He's quick to correct any brief thought that entered her mind that had her thinking he wanted another baby.

Jay could visibly see her shoulders deflate. He could see the hope shimmer out of her eyes. For one brief second she thought that maybe, just maybe, this would convince him to have a baby with her, to give her his seed so she could carry around his spawn but he immediately tossed that idea out of the window. He didn't want any more kids, not with her, not with anybody. And she could tell that no one was going to change his mind.

"Is this real life right now?"

"Look Abs," he takes a step forward and he finds himself surprised to see that she didn't take a step back, "you deserve someone so much better than me, someone who can give you the love and attention that you deserve, someone who will-"

"Wait," her hand flies up into the air, palm pausing in front of him to halt his words, "Are you breaking up with me?" Her voice cracks. And the tears start to fall harder when he nods his head.

He doesn't have it in him to say yes out loud. Jay never claimed to be a brave man, and this was a testament to that. He's breaking up with her because it'll be the best thing for the both of them. But, based on the hard shaking of her head, she seems to disagree, "No!"

Why wouldn't she want to break up with him? He not only slept with someone else, but he got her pregnant. He's having a baby outside of his relationship.

"Abby-"

"No Jay," her face is red and splotchy as the tears continue to stream down her cheeks, "you don't get to take the easy way out," the palm she has up in the air, she closes into a fist, "you don't get to continuously break my heart without putting forth any effort to fix it. I want to continue to give our relationship a try. We owe it to ourselves. We can overcome anything, any obstacles that tries to get in our way," that same hand that was closed into a fist, now pokes out her pointer finger so she pushes it into his chest, "You've broken my heart enough, you don't get to do it again, not anymore, not after this time. I can't lose you, Jay, I won't."

He snatches her wrist, prohibiting her from shoving her pointer finger into his chest again, "You don't get it. I'm trying to spare you of anymore heartbreak."

"You don't get to make that decision for me," she muttered, she's trying to keep herself together but Jay wouldn't blame her if she fell apart, "Today was supposed to be a good day. I got the job at Peterson and Jenkins accounting firm, I start tomorrow," and this time, it was his heart that broke, he should have waited a little longer before telling her the news, "I just wanted to celebrate my new job with the man that I love. And I was going to surprise you," she says at the same time his cell vibrated in his pocket but he had the decency to ignore it, Abby deserved his attention right now, "I got this today," the tone of her voice drops and she clears her throat when her tears start falling more freely, "It's a tattoo," she pulls the piece of lingerie to the side to show a white bandage that blended in with the material enough that he didn't notice it, "I did something I knew you would love," she pulls the adhesive back to show the shiny, fresh tattoo of his name printed in bold, cursive largely going across her chest, right above her heart, "It's a sign of my love for you."

Jay doesn't think about how she may perceive him taking a large step back; he didn't care. He does it anyway because he's confused, he's dumbfounded, left open-mouthed and shocked, "Why would you get that? Why would you get my name tattooed on you, Abigail? What were you thinking? You should have talked about it with me first."

"That defeats the purpose of a surprise."

"A tattoo though, Abby, really? If you wanted to surprise me so bad, why not, um I don't know, clean the apartment, or write me a letter. Why did you have to do something so permanent?"

"I wanted you to know how committed I am to you. I'm serious about you and I don't want to break up. I just thought we could get matching ones. Me with your name and you with mine."

"I'm not getting your name tattooed on me."

"…but you have tattoos," she argued.

"Yes, but none of them are anybody's names."

"I suppose not," both of her lips quiver, her nose scrunches up and she continues crying, but this time he can hear her sobs. She's loud. She's hysterical. She's inconsolable and when she reaches for the nearest object -a harmless vase that she bought a few days ago- to throw it against the wall, he knows that she's having a breakdown, one caused by him. He watches her in shock, never seeing this side of her as she walks into the living room to see what else she could break. And she finds it, and he doesn't have it in him to stop her.

He remembers his phone vibrating a few minutes ago and takes a brief moment to check it to make sure there wasn't an emergency. It wasn't. It was just a text message from Erin, I just paid my security deposit and I have officially signed my lease. I'll start moving in some time in the next two weeks -EV. She ends her message with a smiley face and he makes a mental note to respond later. Jay didn't want to risk responding now and have Abby notice. She was already upset; he didn't want to piss her off even more.

When he pockets his phone, he looks up to see Abby releasing her pent up anger, her aggression, breaking things, throwing things to the floor and pulling the sofa cushions away to throw them at him. And he takes it. It's the least he could do. He stands there, firm, shoulders tense and head held high as he watches her practically destroy the living room until she has no energy left, "You don't get to make that decision for me," she repeats her earlier words, voice shallow and shaky, "I hate being alone. I can," she's out of breath and she struggles to catch it, "I can bounce back from this, I just need time but I know that I'll get over this. You," she points at him from across the room, "breaking up with me is something that I won't be able to get over."

He feels bad for her, worse for her than he felt the day he told her about sleeping with someone else. That guilt was rooted to the pit of his stomach, not appearing as if it'll go away anytime soon, "What does that mean, Abby?" He takes a cautious step forward as if he were approaching an injured animal. He didn't want to set her off again.

"It means that I love you, more than I love myself and if I lose you, I won't be able to come back from that. If you're not in my life anymore then I don't want to live anymore."

Jay tried to give her a way out, but it seems she was determined to do everything to keep him locked in, and threatening to inflict harm upon herself seemed to be the way to do it. She came over, crashing her body against his, wrapping her arms around him and crying into his solid chest, "I just love you so much," an unbroken stream of tears continued to flow, soaking his shirt during its descent, "and I'm not crazy. I don't want you to think I'm crazy. I just," she sniffs, rubbing her nose against his shirt, "I just don't want to lose you. You're all I have; you're everything and if I lose you then I lose everything." A gut-wrenching sob tore through her chest and erupted from her throat, forcing him to wrap his arms around her, to hold her tight in an effort to offer comfort.

His own eyes grew watery, his own vision became blurry and it was beginning to be difficult for him to see clearly, "It's going to be okay, Abs," he hoped that he wasn't lying to her. He does care about her, it's hard not to care about someone when you spend so much time with them. He might not love her but he cares about her enough to know that he doesn't want to see her hurt, "And I won't go anywhere," slowly she pulls her head back to rest her chin on his chest and look up at his eyes, "on one condition though," and she listens, she holds her breath as she waits, "you have to talk to a professional, you need to get help, threatening to hurt yourself isn't okay."

There was constant sniffing as if she was resisting the onslaught of more tears, "okay," she slowly nods her head in agreement, smiling and lying through her teeth, "I'll get help, I promise," she says the words although she knows that there is nothing wrong with her. She truly believes that she's alright. It's him that needs the help and she won't give up on him. To make him happy, she'll pretend to go. She'll lie about appointments, she'll spend time in the city during the times she tells him she has a therapy session, but she won't step foot in an office because she's perfectly fine.

"I won't leave you in your time of need," he rubs her back with his opened palm. He's not a bad guy, he's not a bad person and she knows that despite what he thinks he is, he's truly a good man.

And she sighs in relief, burying her face in his shirt to hide the smile that stretches across her face.