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Grace had just shoveled the last bite of cake and pickles into her mouth when she caught Jasper moving to the door, with his head down. She waved at the man, but he didn't seem to notice before he left and soon was gone. She placed the plate down on the counter and hopped down, only to be welcomed now by her husband moving into the kitchen. When he wrapped his arms around her, she snaked her arms around his neck. Now that they were alone, she was going to need to fill him in on the information she'd gotten this morning. "Don't apologize, it's alright. But there is something I need to tell you, and you might want to sit down for it." If she waited until after the dinner he might be angry that she had waited so long. But she was also scared that telling him before the dinner would make him want to cancel it, and she really wanted to have people over. Especially since a lot of her time was spent having conversations with Thomas.

After a moment she pushed her hands through her hair and breathed out a deep sigh. "Do you remember when I was in prison? What happened there?" Her blue eyes held his gaze for a moment, and she shook her head. It would be better not to beat around the bush for this one. "I'm pregnant, and I'm not sure if it belongs to you or Mendez." Saying it out loud didn't make her feel any better. In fact, it made her feel extremely filthy, almost. Not like she had consensual sex with the man, but still. "I don't know what to do because I won't be able to get a paternity test for another month when they can stick a needle in there, or I will have to wait until the baby is born." Grace was pacing in the kitchen without even realizing it, and could feel the tears already forcing their way out of her eyes. "I think I'm going to take him to court and press charges." She cupped her face over her hands and wiped at her cheeks before finally leaning back against the counter.

Grace frowned and lowered her eyes to the ground, only to bring them back up to Orion when he walked over to her and took her hand. She searched his face for a moment and slowly nodded her head. As much as she wanted to press charges against the man, she would listen to Orion. The last thing she ever wanted was to have Mendez back in her life, especially if this baby turned out to be his. She was already about ten weeks along, according to the blood-work she'd had done, so in about 5 more weeks she would be able to get the paternity test done. "I've been so scared to tell you, all morning. I was afraid that you wouldn't want me anymore -- or that you wouldn't look at me the same." She moved forward and wrapped her arms around his midsection, pressing her face into his chest.

Grace was already feeling stressed out with the fact that someone tried to burn down her old house, with her child inside, and now this? She didn't doubt that Orion would take care of things, because he always did. But she was scared for the whole thing. She didn't want to have another child so fast, because she and Orion were still barely getting back into having time for themselves. The last thing she needed on top of this unknown pregnancy was for something like what had happened with Annalise to happen again. "I love you Orion." She held onto him a little longer before releasing him and taking a step back, and fanning at her face. "I've got to go pick up the food order. Thomas should stay asleep, but if he doesn't there's milk in the fridge for him." Grace kissed Orion quickly and moved around, grabbing her purse and car keys. She needed some time to just think. The drive to the Chinese place would be nice too.

'Cause sometimes you just feel tired,
Feel weak, and when you feel weak,
you feel like you wanna just give up

~Cadence Jaycey Sinclaire-Caine~

Cadence was hurrying through town, extremely jumpy and paranoid. Ben's call had her terrified, and wanting to arm herself. Or at least be near someone who could help her arm herself. Her heart was racing and she felt like she couldn't breathe. She was sure she was on the verge of another panic attack.

She found herself at her old apartment. She was fumbling with her keys that she had somehow managed to pull out of her purse. She unlocked the front door, practically fell in the first door. She quickly caught her balance and slammed the door shut behind her once she was inside the building.

She could hear noise and banging coming from her apartment upstairs. She forced herself up the stairs as quickly as her short legs could go. She paused after hearing a loud crash and a stream of cursing in a man's voice.
"Ethan....?" Cadence called out cautiously. There was no answer, only more cursing, grunting and the sound of glass breaking.

Once at the top of the landing she could see her apartment door wide open. She took a deep breath and closed the space. She stepped into the apartment just in time to see Ethan brace his foot against the door way, and push off as hard as he could. There was a man roughly about Ethan's size, choking Ethan out. His arm wrapped tightly about Ethan's neck, Ethan's back against the man's chest.

When Ethan kicked off, it sent him falling backwards onto the other man. The man swore, and then had the wind knocked out of him. Ethan's solid frame landing on top of the man. Ethan tried to roll away and the man sat up and grabbed a hold of Ethan's shirt. He tried to get a better grip on Ethan, instead he took an elbow to the face.
"s**t!" The man yelled. His nose was bleeding but he managed to get to his feet the same time Ethan got to his. The man punched Ethan in the face. It sent his staggering a bit for a second then he charged the man. The pair landed on her kitchen table which seemed to explode under the force of impact.

Cadence screamed and jumped back as pieces of the table flew her way. For a split second both men paused and turned their attention to her.
"CADENCE RUN!" They both yelled in unison then stopped and looked at one another.
"Aren't you Ben?" The man with the bloody nose asked.
"Hell no!" Ethan snapped.
"Who are you?" He demanded and the man looked toward Cadence.
"I'm her Father." Ethan was surprised and pushed off of Joshua. He looked toward Cadence quickly.
"Sorry, I didn't know. He launched a sneak attack and I just defended myself against the attack." He was getting up, as was Joshua.
"You are NOT my Father Joshua!" Cadence yelled and stomped one foot.
"David Matthew Caine was my Father. You were simply the sperm donor. The a*****e who knocked my Mother up and then abandoned her!" She was glaring at the older man.
"Cadence..."
"No! Shut up! Get out of my place! Look what you did!" She began to push her way through the mess. Trying to get to her cleaning supplies. She began to sweep of some of the debris. She stopped cleaning when she came to a smashed picture frame. She picked up the photo of her aunt holding baby Isabelle. Underneath that picture was an ultrasound picture she had hidden. One of few ultrasound pictures she did have from when she was pregnant with Jasper's baby. She carefully brushed the pictures off.
"Let me help..."
"No! No! Ethan, I don't want you to help me either. Please....just...leave me alone right now." She set the photos down on the counter.
"Hey, I didn't mean to..." Ethan laid a hand on her shoulder and she jumped away from him immediately.
"DON'T!" She snapped. Ethan raised his hands and took a couple of small steps away from her. She was trembling and feeling so overwhelmed. She grabbed the photos and stuffed them in her purse and ran out of the apartment and then down the steps.

She moved as quickly as she could. Away from the apartment, and the two men who had trashed her place. Ethan stopped Joshua from following her. He knew she needed her space. When she got upset, she tended to lash out and then distance herself.

Cadence tried to ignore the pains she was feeling in her back and stomach. She slowed down and rubbed her back. She bit her lower lip and kept moving. She was heading back to her Mother's house. She needed to lay down, and calm down. She was not suppose to be getting so worked up. At her last appointment her blood pressure was extremely elevated. Her Doctor ordered her to relax and take it easy.

Cadence sat herself down on the next bench she saw, She was cramping badly now. She took a deep breath and mentally counted down. She was trying to relax and hope the pain would go away. She lowered her head, eyes closed and lightly massaged her belly.
"I was just on my way to see you..." Cadence's eyes open and her head snapped up. There he stood, the man who she still had nightmares about regularly. Benjamin Drayton was standing not five feet from her.

She was frozen in absolute terror for a long minute and then she jumped to her feet. Ignoring the pain for the moment, she just wanted to be away from the man. She could feel something warm and wet on her. His eyes moved from her to the bench.
"You're bleeding..." He pointed out and she didn't want to look back at the bench, did not want to take her eyes off of him. She did briefly, and saw that the bench did in fact have a significant amount of blood on it.

She hurried away from Ben, surprisingly he did not follow. In fact he just left. Clearly not wanting to get involved. She wasn't sure, but she figured there was probably a restraining order still in place and he feared being near her if she called for help. She called for a cab, not wanting to call Killian. She knew he needed to be with his family, and focus on them. The two needed space, they were way to close.

~Candie~

Grace stopped by her purse and looked up at Orion in the kitchen, shaking her head. "I was going to have them deliver it but their delivery driver isn't working tonight. Of course Moira can come, she's always welcome. What happened was not her fault. I'll be back in maybe twenty minutes?" She moved into the kitchen again and placed her hands on his waist as he looked in the cabinet, and placed a quick kiss to the side of his neck before hurrying out of the house and on the road to the Chinese place. On the way, though, she passed by the clubhouse and stopped off quickly to grab some of Thomas's things that she had left there from a while back. The Creek was surprisingly quiet for a Friday night, then again, quiet wasn't a bad thing. She walked to the door and then inside the clubhouse. There was always someone around, so she didn't really have to worry about it being locked up or anything. But, just so she didn't startle whoever was there, she cupped her hands around her mouth. "It's Grace! Just here to grab a few things. Dinner's at my place in thirty minutes." After going into Orion's office, she grabbed the blanket and toys that had been left there and carried them right back to her Jeep, pulling her cell phone out to text the number that Cadence had given her. She had no idea if it was still in service or not, but she'd might as well try.


To: Cadie
Fr: Gracie
Dinner at my place 2nite.
Call me if u need address.
If not, I understand.
<3


Grace sent the message and then paused for a moment, loading the blankets and stuff into the backseat of the Jeep. Once the doors were closed she grabbed her phone again and sent another message. If there was anyone she could talk to about an unwanted pregnancy -- if it belonged to Mendez -- it was Cadie.


To: Cadie
Fr: Gracie
We need to meet for brkfst soon.
Have some news.
Take care of urself.


Once that message was sent, she moved to the front seat and went to the Chinese place, sitting down and waiting for them to get the massive order ready to go.

Diana nodded to Killian as he asked if she was sure. No she had just gotten here; the dust was just settling; things were seeming to work fine. She didn't want to put distance between her and Killian this time. She could be scared, but this time she wasn't running. Di turned back to her crepes and finished them. A laugh escapped her as Kill mentioned that Lyv would become use to having a dog, "Well I guess your either going to have to share Tino more often or there will be more sleep overs in the future. We both don't each need a dog to care for. " And that was the truth as Di saw it. If she was going to start traveling farther to work, that meant she wouldn't be home as often. Hence why she needed Killian to watch Lyv in the first place more often. A dog seemed to defeat that whole purpose. And then when they were together as a family, two dogs just might be a little too chaotic for her tastes.

As Di sipped her coffee, she looked over at him with a frown seeing him push food around his plate. That wasn't like him. She reached over to him, her hand softly caressing his cheek for a moment before she withdrew. "Stop playing and eat your food, big boy. You need your strength. And order your dog those pancakes he likes."She told him with a smile, trying to lighten the mood some between them. Di began to finish her cup and ordered those pancakes when the waiter came to refill her cup for her. As the worker left,
she smiled over at the man across from her at the table. "Mmm... the range. Alright Killy, if that would make you feel better just tell me when and where."

As she finished her second cup, and Tino's pancakes came with the check. Di grabbed the bill and her purse, standing from the booth. Her grin eyes looked to Killian asking him,"You ready to get going? I think we both have some busy days ahead. Wanna stop by for dinner later? I promise I won't poison you."

'Cause sometimes you just feel tired,
Feel weak, and when you feel weak,
you feel like you wanna just give up

~Cadence Jaycey Sinclaire-Caine~

Cadence's first instinct was to run away from Jasper. Get far, far away from the man. Not because she feared her would hurt her. Not there out in the open. She wanted to run because she knew Ben was watching. She wanted the man to have no reason to go after anyone of the Angels anymore. If he wanted to continued to torment her, that was one thing. She would suck it up. She didn't want her now ex friends to suffer though.

She got in the truck though because the pain was getting worst. She wasn't sure what to say to Jasper. She kept her eyes on her hands that were balled up on her lap.
"I am going to the hospital...thanks." She wished she had run into ANYONE other than Jasper. He was the one person she had wanted to not see again because it just made her hurt in a way she had no way of fixing. A way she couldn't really even describe. It's why she had given up trying. She loved the man, but after everything...well she knew there was no future for them. She was a train wreck, and he was the exact opposite.

Cadence tried to think of a plan. She had a gun in her bag, and really did not want to try to smuggle an illegal gun into the hospital. then she would have to eventually explain why and where she got the gun. She couldn't exactly explain that she was planning on murdering a very evil man. Evil or not, she would find her a** in prison and suffering once more at his hands. Only this time it would be indirectly.

A loud sound outside the car made her jump. She tried to calm herself down so she didn't literally jump out and start running. She was grateful the hospital was in sight. In another minute the would be in front of it.
"Thank you...." She mumbled and quickly slipped out of the truck. Cadie knew word would get to her Mother. Word always got to Lena, so she knew she would at least have someone to be with her. Someone to reassure her things would be okay, even if it was a lie.

Cadie wasn't sure what she was feeling about the situation she was in. This was her baby. She had already named her. Already picked out a tiny outfit for her to come home in. At the same time...Cadie had never really wanted her. She felt ashamed of herself for that, and wondered if that was why she was not more upset. Or perhaps she had been waiting for something like this. Finally accepting things for her always took an unexpected turn. Cadie only knew one thing, and that was she would not be a Mother yet again.

Cadence paused outside the truck. She pulled her keys, phone and wallet from it.
"I have no right to ask you this. I am sorry in advance. Can you do me a favor and get this to Killian?" He motioned to the purse she was pushing under the seat in his truck.
"Don't get pulled over, don't open it. Don't touch it without gloves. Tell Killian the same thing. He will know what to do with it till I can get it back from him." Cadie knew Jasper would figure out what was in the bag. He had no doubt had similar directions in the past.

She spotted the ex from her sister-in-law. She did not read it at the moment. She would get back to Grace. Now that she was back, she could at least try to repair her friendship with Grace. That was assuming Orion did not block the friendship. Cadie was sure he wouldn't but she had no way of knowing for sure. Their contact with another was very limited. In fact it was mainly through Killian that she and Orion communicated.

~Candie~

There was silence in car after Cadence got in. Jasper pulled the truck away from the curb and began to drive. He was already driving to the hospital when she finally stated that's where she needed to go. So he only nodded to her direction. She was bleeding. Of course she needed to go to the hospital. Even if she would have been too stubborn to realize it.

When they arrived and she hopped out at the ER doors, his blue eyes glanced to her, "Do you want me to wait for you? Or call someone? Lena perhaps?" As awkward as this was,
she needed help. At this moment he was the one here and offering.
Now he would stay if she wanted, because he had offered and they had history. Plus she hadn't let him be there the last time she lost a baby.
So maybe he could make up for that. But with all the distance between them now, he didn't think that would help anything. But Lena.
She knew what to do with her daughter almost always.

His blue eyes watched as she shoved the purse under the front seat next to him. He nodded to her once again,"I'll get it to Killian, Cadie." He waited for her to leave the truck and head into the hospital.