In the morning Stevie woke to giggles and the bed shaking
"Hey babies!"
"Hey mommy!" Will laid down on top of her
"Hey Will!"
"Can we cook breakfast?" Lee asked
"Of course we can, come on let's get to it!" She sat up as the kids ran off ahead of her. She smiled to herself then thought about Lindsey. He must've left awhile ago. The kids hadn't mentioned him. She knew she'd have to break the news to Joe today.
Joe weighed heavily on her mind all through breakfast and getting the kids ready
Finally Lindsey showed back up to watch the kids out and watch them. Stevie had already called Joe and asked him to come over
He had arrived an hour later, letting himself in and finding Stevie in the kitchen, sipping on a glass of wine.
He walked in behind her quietly and wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing a kiss to her neck. She almost jumped out of her skin. "Shit, you scared me."
"Sorry, baby. Couldn't stay away?" He asked, massaging her hips
She put her hands over his and took a deep breath. Honestly feeling a little nauseous. "Joe, we need to talk." 
"Later, baby," Joe said, kissing down her neck
She shivered a little. "Joe...please, we really should talk...."
He sighed and pulled away, "About what?"
She turned around and gestured for them to go in the living room. They walked in and sat down on the sofa. Stevie playing with her fingers nervously.
"Are you alright?" He asked, plopping down on the sofa
"Yeah I'm fine, it's just... Well...Joe... I'm pregnant."
"Who's is it?" He asked
Her jaw dropped and she was speechless for a minute. "J-joe it's yours! How could you even ask me that!"
"Mine?" He asked speechless
She had tears in her eyes. Was that really her reputation? A slut?
"Joe I swear, I haven't been with anyone else. This baby is yours."
She was taken for a loop when he started crying, getting on his knees in front of her and placing his head in her lap.
She just stared at him for a moment then placed her hands gently on his head. "Joe?"
"My baby?" He looked up at her
She nodded tearfully. "Yes."
He smiled, still crying, and wrapped his arms around her, "Oh my god."
She was really confused at this point. "Joe...what are you thinking?"
"We're having a baby!" He smiled, pulling her off the couch and into his arms. "Oh Steph I'm so happy!"
"You are??"
"Of course!"
"Oh my gosh, Joe.... I didn't think...I didn't even know if you'd believe me..." She cried as she hugged him tighter
"We have to celebrate!" Joe smiled, kissed her deeply
She held his face in her hands and smiled, laughing after they kissed. He was so excited.
"I mean what's there not to be happy about?! We get to go shopping and ultrasounds, and to the park, and take them to Disney!" He babbled excitedly
"I'm so glad to hear you say that, oh my g-I love you!" She hugged him
"I love you too!" He smiled, kissing her cheek, "God, I want to tell everybody!"
She laughed, "Maybe not yet..."
He dried his tears and pulled her closer to him, "I'm so happy."
She kissed his head. "I'm so glad"
"Come on, Mama, let's go get you taken care of," he scooped her up and took her to the bedroom, "I'm all yours until you want me to leave. What can I get you?"
She giggled, "I just need some cuddles if you don't mind."
"You asking to much there, Nicks," he joked
She fake pouted.
Joe smiled and shook his head, climbing into bed with her, "This kid is going to be so fucked up."
She laughed, "I hope not."
"Please, with me as the father and you as its mom," He pretended to scoff
She giggled. "Crappp"
"Well I don't know about you, but I will love them just the same," he smiled
She smiled lovingly at him. "Of course."
"I love you," he said softly, placing his hand on her cheek and kissing her forehead.
"I love you too" she kissed his lips softly
He slowly slid his hand to her stomach, "I'm sorry that I gave you the right to doubt me when you told me about this."
"No, no. You didn't do anything it's just that...our history..well, we've never had that much of an emotional relationship.."
"But now we can! We can get married, and raise this baby!" He smiled
Stevie's eyes about bulged out of her head. "Woah woah woah, slow down. Joe- I just got my divorce papers yesterday. I haven't even signed them yet."
"Please, Stephanie, I want this to be done properly. I want them to be brought up with married parents," he pled
"Joe..... It's not that simple."
"But why?" He asked
She shook her head and sat up. It really was as simple as her just signing those papers. But she couldn't get what her and Lindsey had said to each other the night before out of her head. They'd said so much. Could she just forget about that? And her relationship with Joe..? It was just physical before the baby....was all this 'love' just because she was pregnant?
"Baby, I didn't mean to upset you," he sat behind her, rubbing her stomach, "I will do this however you would like to, I promise," kissing her shoulder.
She leaned back into him and looked up at him tiredly. "Let's just take a nap, is that alright?"
"That's just fine," Joe smiled, leaning back and taking her with him.
She knew she had to make up her mind about all this but she wasn't sure what to think. Joe was acting...well, like she'd never seen him act before. He was really happy.
"Have you been to the doctor?" Joe asked
"No, I just found out yesterday."
"Oh baby, we need to do that," he was genuinely worried and concerned about her, hearing bits and pieces about the previous pregnancy.
"Yeah.." She sighed, there was really nothing that concerned her more.
"Can I see if I can take you this afternoon?" Joe rubbed her stomach
She placed her hand over his. "Okay, I'll call and see if I can get an appointment today."
"You nap, just give me the number," he insisted, Stevie could already tell that he was going to be her shadow for the next few months
"It's in my address book in the nightstand."
"Alright," he got up and searched, finding it and getting the number. "What name do you use?"
"Stephanie Buckingham...they're a pretty private place."
He nodded and closed the bedroom door behind him
She sighed and fell into a cat nap.
Joe came back almost fourth five minutes later to wake her up
"Hey" he brushed her bangs away from her eyes and she woke up slowly. "Hey.."
"Your appointment is in an hour. I brought you a snack," he said softly, stroking her hair back to get her to wake up
She sat up slowly and smiled at him, "An hour?" He nodded. "Alright, I guess I'd better wake up then."
"Yea, I let you sleep as long as I could," Joe told her
She nodded, "That's alright. Thanks for the snack."
"You're welcome," he kissed her cheek, "I'll be downstairs."
"Alright."
An hour later Joe was walking her into the doctors office, getting them checked in and quickly taken to the back. "Hello Mrs. Buckingham how are....we," noticing that the man with her definitely wasn't Mr. Buckingham
"We're alright...um, I am concerned though because of the last time.."
"Right, well that was a very rare case,not likely to ever happen again. We'll get you checked out to make sure," the OBGYN smiled politely
She nodded gratefully.
"Alright, I'm sure you know what to do by now. You could probably do this on your own," she joked
Stevie laughed awkwardly as they made their way to the room.
"So you his this handsome fellow with you?" The doctor asked
Stevie bit her lip. "A friend."
"Well it's nice to meet you," she smiled, helping Stevie up on the table.
Stevie took a deep breath.
"Could you please raise your shirt?"
She nodded and did so slowly. The doctor bit her lip when she saw the still ever present incision, there'd probably always be a scar. "I'll go around it." She smiled sadly at Stevie.
"Thank you", she said softly. "Do you have an idea around how far along you are?" The doctor asked as she squirted the gel on Stevie's stomach
"Um, probably only a few weeks...but no I'm not really sure...maybe a month.."
"Oh baby it's been more than a month," Joe smirked
She smiled shyly at him. She really wasn't sure..she was drunk most of the time and she felt awful for it now that something had actually came from it.
"Alrighty, it's easy to tell, I just wanted to see if you had a ball park. Let's take a look," she smiled, turning on the machine and pressing the probe to Stevie's stomach
She winced at the pressure but quickly focused on the monitor
"It's not going to feel great, sorry I should have said something," she apologized, "let's see if we can find them."
She nodded, excited.
"I'm going to get pretty close to the incision, just tell me if it hurts too much, alright?"
She watched the probe get closer and closer and held her breath.
"There we go!" The doctor said excitedly, pointing  to the small dot on the screen. "You're around nine weeks."
She felt Joe nudge her. "See, I told you it was more than a month."
She smiled and nodded, "Does everything look okay?"
The doctor looked over all the possibilities for issues and she couldn't find anything. "Everything looks perfect."
"Can we hear the heartbeat?" She asked, overwhelmed at the news of a happy child
"Of course! Sorry!" She turned the nob on the corner and the heart beat filled the room vibrantly.
Stevie smiled in delight, "Oh I am so happy to hear that!"
Joe was crying at this point.
"I will print you out some pictures and send you on your way with some vitamins!" The OBGYN smiled
"Thank you so much!" Stevie hugged her doctor and got her vitamins and her pictures and eventually was sent out the door
"That was amazing!" Joe exclaimed, pulling the scan pictures out of the envelope
She laughed at his excitement.
"Oh Steph, look at this! It's our baby!" He gestured toward the picture
She stopped him when they got to the car and kissed him deeply, completely out of the blue, against the car. He pulled back slightly. "Woah, what was that for?" She smiled up at him. "You're just so cute, the way you reacted to..well, everything. You're so excited about this whole thing..REALLY EXCITED and I love you for it. I want you to know that."
"I love you too," he said softly, kissing her gently. "Lindsey?" Joe said confused, earning a punch in the face. The whole thing caught Stevie by surprise, what was Lindsey doing there? "You son of a bitch! That's my wife!"
Stevie immediately panicked. Lindsey was all over Joe. She wanted to stop him but she didn't know if she could. "Lindsey! Stop!" She finally found her voice. She ran over to them and tried to get in between the two.
He let go of Joe and turned to her, completely furious, "What about us, huh? What about last night?" He gritted through his teeth, looking at her wth disgust
He backed her up until she was against the car. She had tears running down her face. "I'm so sorry..Lindsey....I..." She lowered her voice to a whisper, "I meant what I said last night...I meant it all-" He cut her off.
"Apparently not."
"Oh yea, by the way, your doctors office called me, letting me know that you forgot your vitamins. Wanting to let me know if I should change your marital status to divorced."
She closed her eyes. "Lindsey please just listen to me!"
"Why should I? You're obviously happy with him!"
"No! Lindsey! Listen! Please if you cared as much as you said you do last night then listen to me!"
Joe was back on his feet by then, stepping in front of her, "Listen, Buck, you need to leave. We're getting married, right baby?" He smiled at Stevie
Both men watched in horror as she fell to the ground. Luckily at that moment both men's main focus was her well-being. The hospital was only five minutes from the OBGYN and she was rushed to it.
"Baby? Stevie?" Both men cried as she was rushed down the hallway
The nurses stopped them for IDs and after relations were established only Lindsey could go back with her, but Joe made sure not to leave the lobby for even a second.
"Stephanie?" He cried, blaming himself for approaching her in the first place
He went into her room and stood and watched as a couple of nurses set her up. Eventually they left and she was still unconscious.
"Sweetheart, I'm so sorry," he cried, "I'll get Joe, but I do love you." Lindsey whispered, convicted that Joe was the one she'd choose.
As he had started for the door the doctor walked in. "Mr. Buckingham?"
"Yes sir." The doctor shook his hand. "Your wife is perfectly fine, we established very quickly that her fainting was a dizzy spell from the pregnancy with heavy stress added to that, it's not really uncommon. She should wake up any moment actually, do you have any questions?"
"Could the other man in the waiting room come in?"
The doctor nodded. "I guess that would be alright."
"Thank you," Lindsey shook his hand and went to get Joe, "I'm sure that Stevie would like you in there when she wakes up. I have to get going now, the kids are with a friend," he told Joe.
Joe looked at him like he had two heads. "You don't want to be there when she wakes up? What the hell's wrong with you??"
"I really don't think she want to wake up and see BOTH of us there. Please go in there before I change my mind," Lindsey rubbed his temple
"No wonder you're getting divorced." Joe mumbled under his breath.
"I can raise your baby easily," Lindsey threatened
Joe shut up quick. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Whatever you want it to," Lindsey turned and headed for the elevators
Joe just shrugged the comment off and made his way to her room.
Stevie was stirring by the time he got there, "Lindsey?"
Joe felt a little hurt honestly. "No he left."
"Joe, I'm so sorry!" She began to cry, "is the baby alright?"
He ran over to her and held her. "Shh, the baby is fine an ultra sound was the first thing they did. They're just fine."
"I'm so stupid," she shook her head, "this ones going to end up like the last baby!"
"No! Stevie don't say that! Sweetheart they're just fine! I promise you! And they'll continue to be fine!"
"But this situation is so fucking stressful! I can't handle it!" Stevie sobbed
"Yes you can! Steves you're doing great! I'm right here!"
"You don't understand! I love him too!"
He let go of her and took a step back. "What?"
"I love both of you," she whimpered
"You can't love two people at the same time!"
"But I do!" Stevie replied, feeling nauseous and dizzy again
"I'm sorry...I-I can't deal with this right now...I'll be back.." He couldn't get out the door fast enough.
"Joe!" She cried after him, needing comfort from someone. She was tired of dealing with things on her own the past couple months and now she continued to do so.
She just sat there and cried by herself for the longest time. Until she finally picked up the phone beside her bed. She dialed the number and waited, "Lindsey, I need you."
"Where's your fiancé?" He snapped
"Lindsey please, you said that no matter what, if I ever needed you you'd be there. Please, I need you."
"I'm on my way," he replied, hanging up on her
She almost immediately relaxed when she heard that. She laid back against her pillows and held one against her chest, crying as she waited.
Lindsey arrived soon after, "Where'd that bastard go?"
"I don't know...he got upset and left..." She reached out her arms for him and he got in the bed beside her and held her. "Why weren't YOU here?"
"I thought that you may want him more on account of how I acted. I should have just confronted you later but I was outraged on the level of affection you were equally sharing," Lindsey explained
She hung her head, "I'm sorry..I shouldn't have done that..especially in public." He smoothed her hair and was trying to stay calm. "Why was Joe so upset that he left?" She looked up at him. "Because I love two people at the same time.."
"I think that you should just walk away from both of us and see who you miss the most. I know that I am the father of your children, but so is he and we an equal connection to you. I am going to keep the kids a bit longer until you are well."
She closed her eyes and nodded, knowing he had a point. "I never said I'd marry him Lindsey." She addressed one of the many elephants in the room.
She could feel him relax, "I thought I'd lost you for good."
"Nope, sorry, you're stuck with me."
"You say that like its a bad thing," Lindsey smiled
She giggled a little and shrugged, "Depends on who you ask."
"Never a bad thing in my book," he shook his head, "so how did the appointment go? Everything normal?"
"Yeah, they're perfect." She felt guilty telling him and he knew it but he reassured her it was alright. "I'm glad."
"Do you have the scan picture? I'd like to see them."
"In my purse."
He got up and picked up her purse and then sat back down with her pulling the pictures out.
"I remember these days," Lindsey smiled, thinking back to the first time he saw William through ultrasound
She smiled into his shoulder. "Yeah.."
"Times have definitely changed, the clarity of the new technology is amazing," he smiled being able to point out the pea sized baby easily
She nodded, "I know, the heartbeat was crystal clear, I don't want to seem insensitive but...I was so happy when I heard it....I really love this baby so much already."
"I know you do," he smiled, "I'm very happy for you."'
"Thank you Lindsey.... I'm sorry about what you saw earlier."
"It's your life, your heart. I will respect what you choose and we can continue with the divorce."
She looked up at him startled. "Lindsey! No we-why....do you want that?"
"I mean, I think that everything would be so much easier now if you stayed with Joe and I stayed with Kit. We don't have to choose and it's less chaotic.
She looked up at him in shock. "You, you'd give up just like that? Because it would be easier? After you said you loved me?? Screw you!"
"Steph we have five other people to think about here! Joe is going to want that baby and it's clear that he isn't going to leave them!"
She looked up at him heartbroken. "But what if I want you?"
"But what about what's best for your child? I wouldn't put it past Joe to file for custody if you were to leave him," Lindsey rubbed her arm
"I could work it out! You know I could! That's what bothers me, you always used to say if there's a will there's a way-do you just not care anymore??"
"I'm just tired, Steph," he sighed, "I am content with Kris, and I known that you could be the same way with Joe."
"Content! What do you want?? To be content or to be in love?"
"Yea well it might have been more simple decision if you weren't pregnant," Lindsey replied
Her heart broke. "I'm sorry, you know I'm sorry...but I'm sitting here telling you I love you and I want you to be more than just the father of my children again and you're willing to walk out that door into the arms of another woman?? And let me walk into the arms of another man??"
"Yea, that's what I'm saying," he scratched the back of his head
She broke down then. "I lost you, because I was stupid and drunk and a bitch I lost you for good..." She started sobbing.
"Please don't blame yourself. I just don't want anymore drama," Lindsey stood up
She covered her face with her hands. "Please..don't do this...we could be happy again.. I'll stop being an emotional mess I'll do anything! I don't want to seem desperate but Lindsey I need you!"
He obviously couldn't leave her like this, "Is there anyone I can call for you?"
"You're seriously going to leave me like this??"
"I don't know how to get it through to you that this isn't what I want."
She stopped crying right then. She laid back and wiped her tears away. "Alright...go on then. But if you walk out on me now there won't be door to walk back into later on."
"I'm sorry, Steph," he sighed, opening the door and walking out without looking back
She couldn't cry anymore. She didn't have any tears left. The man who had just told her he loved her and wanted to be with her the night before now just walked out for good?

Authors note: sorry for mistakes