I glance at the clock when I hear someone come into the apartment. I just can't sleep. Between being in a strange new place and worrying about talking to Liam, sleep is impossible. It is now 2 am. No wonder Alex doesn't make it to his class first thing in the morning. That's a hell of a shift to keep up while trying to go to school.

I want to surprise him as a thank you for letting me stay, so I have set up the sofa bed for him with pillows and a blanket. I also have done all the dishes and put them away.

I hear the knob turn slowly on the bedroom door. I roll over and shut my eyes, but my heart is suddenly in a panic. Why is he coming into the bedroom?

He cracks open the door, slides past and walks as silently as he can across the room. I realize he is trying to reach the bathroom. I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding.

When he finishes, he pauses only a moment before sneaking back out again. I don't let on that I am awake. Then I hear him flopping onto the sofa bed. He must be exhausted. I decide to get him off to a good start in the morning.

I am up and dressed in record time when my alarm goes off. I pack up my things and put my bag by the door. Alex is all tangled up in the blanket. He is shirtless once again and is wearing just his boxers.

Feeling voyeuristic, I choose to move on to making breakfast. I have the coffee brewing and the eggs and bacon sizzling in the pan. I usually prefer over easy but made mine scrambled, after remembering an article I had read that said under-cooked eggs can be bad if you're pregnant.

I wonder how Alex likes his eggs, but decided to just make him the same as mine to save time. I hear him stir and turn my back to give him the chance to get to the bedroom without the embarrassment of me seeing him in his underwear. Instead, I hear him sigh and roll over. 

Great, now I have to wake him.

I lean over the back of the sofa. "Alllex," I sing-song softly. "Time to get up sleepy head."

He hugs his pillow and burrows in a little deeper, "Five more minutes, Mom, and then I'll promise I'll get up."

This makes me laugh out loud, which causes Alex's eyes to fly open. "Cat!"

"Good morning!" I say, staring down at him. "Why don't you go get dressed? Breakfast is ready and we can catch the bus together to class this morning. If you hurry, you just might make it to your first class on time."

He looks at his watch and groans. "It's too early." He throws the pillow over his head. I can't help but smile inwardly. 

So, this is what it's going to be like trying to get my kid off to school.

I pick up the pillow and smack him with it, causing him to let out an "OOMPH!"

"Bedroom. Now!"

He slowly brings the pillow down so I can see those sparkling eyes, and I can tell he's smiling.

"If you insist."

Too late I realize my words carry a double meaning and flush bright red. I dash off to the kitchen and he swings his long legs over the side of the sofa bed. I refuse to look at him.

He heads into the bedroom. In 10 minutes Alex emerges, still looking tired, but now fully dressed. I dish out our food on the plates. "I'm sorry. I wasn't sure how you prefer your eggs, so I just made them scrambled."

He sits down and just stares at me for a moment. I find it unnerving. "Scrambled is fine," he says after a minute. He eats with zest and takes a sip of his coffee. Alex looks at me again, this time over the brim of his cup. "Remind me to have you stay over more often. I can get used to this." He takes a bigger gulp of coffee.

There is something about Alex that is so inviting. I feel this pull towards him, but I know it's crazy. Liam and I are in a relationship. I'm going to have Liam's baby. I definitely shouldn't be crushing on some gay guy. Maybe this is just some hormonal pregnancy thing.

My phone buzzes. I had left it on the counter by the stove. Alex gets up to get it for me. He glances at it before handing it to me. I look down and I see my reminder pop up to get prenatal vitamins and look at him, wondering if he read it.

If he did, he didn't react to it at all. Instead, he clears our plates and asks, "So, you uh... ready to go?"

I nod. "As soon as I'm done the dishes."

"Leave them. I'll take care of them." Alex walks over to where I draped my jacket over the chair, picks it up, and holds it out for me. He helps me put it on and hands me my bag and then grabs his own coat and bag and off we go.

He sits next to me on the bus. We don't really talk. My mind now fully on what I am going to say to Liam when I see him. I glance over at Alex and he too looks a little lost in thought.

We walk through the campus together, but I stop him before we reach the courtyard. "Thank you, Alex. For everything." I hand him back his key.

"Did it help?" he asks, looking down at me.

"A little," I admit. "Some problems just can't be fixed that quick though, you know?"

His sad smile returns. "Yeah, I know."

"CAT!"

I look up. Liam is storming over to me, and he looks mad as hell.

Alex takes my hand in both of his and shakes it. "Anytime." Alex's gaze is intense before he gives me a mock salute and takes off through the doors into Ryan Hall.

I feel the metal of his key pressed into my palm. I clutch it like a sudden lifeline before slipping it into my pocket.

"Where the hell were you last night?!"

"What do you care?"

"Who was that?" Liam demands to know, pointing towards where Alex disappeared.

"No one."

"No one! Then why was he holding your hand?"

"He shook my hand, to thank me. He got turned around, and I told him where he needed to go."

"I see him around you again, and I'll tell him where he can go!" Liam is still panting from his sprint across the yard. He used to be in such great shape. All the partying is catching up with him.

He takes me by my upper arm and ushers me to a bench. "Sit down!" he demands.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" I shrug out of his grasp.

He grabs both my shoulders and I'm held immobile. "Do you have any idea how sick I was last night? How worried? You pull that stunt in the morning. You don't show up to more than half of your classes, and then you don't come home at night. Sit down... please," he adds to soften the demand.

I reluctantly do so. I am going to miss my class, but I figure it's probably better if we get this out of the way now, instead of later.

He sits next to me and takes my hand. "You really weren't kidding, were you? About the test?"

I shake my head no.

"Jesus." He ran his hand through his hair like he always does when he's frustrated or at a loss. "Look, Cat. Coach says I got scouts from the Pro Teams looking at me. You... you're nearly done with your journalism degree. I don't know how this happened but..." He pulls a card from his jacket pocket and hands it to me.

I want to vomit as I read the name of an abortion clinic. He takes it from me and flips it over. On the back, there is an appointment for today written in blue ink. I feel light-headed. I know the pregnancy isn't what he wanted, but how could he want to kill our child, to make that decision for both of us, without so much as a conversation?

"I took care of everything, babe. You just need to show up. I gave them my credit card information so it will pay for everything. You have nothing to worry about."

My hand shakes as I hold it out for the card. He places it in my hand. I rise from my seat. My mouth opens to speak, but there are no words to express how I feel at this moment. I snap it shut and walk away.

"Cat? CAT!"

I walk past a trashcan and throw the card in. I nearly get to the hall doors before he grabs me again. He has hold of my wrist and I pointedly look down at it and back up at him. With no words needed, he understands and lets me go.

"Can we talk about this?" Liam asks.

"What's there to talk about, Liam? I'm carrying your child and you want it dead." I raise my eyebrows and stare at him for a moment. "Have I missed something?"

"Cat, be reasonable. We are not in any position to become parents. I have my reputation to think of. No Pro Bowl team is going to take me on if they find this out."

"No!" I have heard tales of the maternal instinct to protect, and right now it's kicking into full gear, and Liam is the threat.

"NO?"

"Did I stutter? No. There is no way I'm aborting this baby! You want nothing to do with the child. Fine! Then stay the hell away from the both of us!"

I turned to walk away, but he grabs and spins me back around. "So, that's it! After six years together, you're going to throw us away for a ... a mistake?"

"Mistake?! It's a child, Liam! A mistake is staying out too late when you know you have midterms the next day. This is a human being, who didn't ask to be here, but is here now and I will not throw it away just because it's going to be inconvenient for me!"

"You seem really okay with all this." I wonder where he's going with this line of thinking. "Almost like you had this planned."

"What?" I can't believe what he's saying.

"What's wrong, Cat? Were you getting afraid of my success? You thought I'd disappear on you, so you just conveniently forgot to take your pill to get yourself pregnant? And what? I'm just supposed to step up into the daddy role and you and I live together forever, happily ever after?"

His words feel like a physical slap to my face.

"Happily ever after?" I scoff. "With you? I haven't been happy for years, and not even a baby could change that."

His lips press together, and at that moment I am grateful we are in a public place instead of having this conversation in our dorm flat because, although Liam has never physically harmed me, he seriously looks like he is considering it now.

"Is it even mine?" he asks, his tone low and menacing.

My eyes go wide. I can't believe he can even think... but then I realize what he's doing. He's already putting together his alibi.

"You want this baby gone?" I get in his face. "Then consider us both dead to you. Don't call, don't text. I want you to forget my very existence. I will be out of the apartment by this afternoon!"

I turn from the door and walk away from the campus. This time he doesn't stop me.