"So, what's the report?" Breanna asked her management team. "After that report about you being pregnant a month ago it seems your fans have stayed behind you. Your record sales haven't gone down, in fact they've gone up and you're getting more fan mail then we can keep up with. Maybe one out of every 300 critisizes that you're single and pregnant while the others give you their support." Breanna listened intently on the other line of the phone. "I've been getting a lot of supporting mail as well. Someone found out where I live and posted my address on the internet so I'm getting my fair share of fan mail. Howie is even getting a lot of mail, too." "Well, that's the good news. Ready for the bad news?" Her management team asked. "Well, not really but tell me anyway." Breanna replied. "Jive wants you in the studio right after the baby's born. They want you on tour in about a year." Breanna sucked in a deep breath. "That's not going to happen. I've thought about it and I'm not going to sign the renewal on my contract. I'm going to take a few years off of work to concentrate on this baby and maybe I'll get back into this business but until then, no." After an intense arguement with her management team, Breanna hung up the phone feeling fatigued and defeated.

A knock on the front door brought Breanna out of her thoughts. "Hold on!" She shouted as she hobbled over to the door. When she answered it she quickly turned on her heel to walk back into the house. "You have a key!" She said. "I know but I didn't want to interrupt whatever you were doing." Howie replied as he closed the door behind himself. "Let me grab my purse and we can go." Howie watched Breanna and laughed. "What's so funny?" She asked almost defensively. Howie cleared his throat and tried to look serious but the smirk on his face said it all. "Oh, nothing's funny, Bree. Quack, quack." He joked. "Are you calling me a duck?" She shouted trying to sound angry. "Well, if it walks like one..." He sang out. "Dick." She stated, walking over to the front door. "Bitch." He replied, pushing her slightly out the door. Breanna laughed under her breath as Howie trailed her. "My God woman! Can't you walk any faster?" He teased, walking in front of her towards his car. "Would you care to have a watermellon stuck in your stomach? It's not very comfortable. And as I recall, you're the reason I'm like this." Howie opened his car door and assisted Breanna into the seat. "Okay, so now you're blaming this on me...again! If I recall, you're the one who pounced on me." He stated, shutting the door. He walked around the car and got into the driver side. "I pounced on you? Well, you could have kept it in your pants!" She shouted in disbelief with a slight grin on her face. Howie turned on the engine and quickly pulled out of the driveway. "I could have kept it in my pants? Let me explain something to you. At that time, in London, I figured it would have probably been the *last* time I would have ever touched you again so I took advantage of it. Not advantage of *you*, just the situation." Howie replied, causing Breanna to go silent. She started out the window and watched as trees and houses passed by in a blur. Even though their relationship was better off than it was the month before, they could not talk about their relationship or what went wrong. They used humor to mask everything.

"We're here." Howie said as he turned the engine off. "No shit shirlock, I can see that!" Breanna replied sarcastically. Howie sighed to himself as he got out of the car. He went over to the other side of the car as Breanna was shutting the door behind her. "I can do a few things on my own." She replied, smiling. Howie smiled back and placed his hand on the small of her back as they walked towards an office. "I have an appointment with Dr. Mercer." Breanna told the nurse at the front desk. "Of course, Miss Winterson! Please wait for a few minutes and we will call you in a moment." The nurse replied, smiling warmly. "Thank you." Howie said as he walked over to the waiting area with Breanna. "So, are we going to find out if it's a girl or boy?" Howie asked smiling. Breanna smiled back. "I already know what it is, I think." Breanna replied. "So do I." Howie said. They both looked at each other with a glimmer in their eyes. "It's a girl!" Both said together, causing the other to be shocked. "How'd you know?" Breanna asked. "I had this dream..." "Miss Winterson, please come with me." A nurse said, interrupting Howie. Howie and Breanna stood up and followed the nurse to a back room. Howie had never been to a doctor's appointment with Breanna before, but as their relationship was starting to get stronger each week Breanna had decided to invite him.

It had been half an hour since they arrived at the doctors office. Howie knew he had to be at the studio in less than an hour but judging by the way things were going, it didn't look like that was going to be happening any time soon. "Well, the baby is very active." The doctor noted while staring at the sonogram monitor. Breanna roled her eyes and looked at Howie. He grinned in reply. "The baby is always active. It never stops." Howie explained. "Well, that could be a good thing. But it could also be the effects of all the stress you've suffered in the first two trimesters. Stress affects a fetus in many ways. They are more active while in the womb but once they are born, they could be easily frurstrated and cranky." Breanna grimaced at the thought. "No, I think the baby will be like that but it won't be because of the pregnancy. I think it'll just take after me." The doctor and Howie exchanged looks and laughed. "So, do you want to know what the baby is?" Breanna looked at Howie who nodded his head. "Yeah, we want to know." The doctor smiled as he turned his attention back to the sonogram. "Well, there are the arms, the legs, and it appears she's been having a lot of hiccups." Breanna looked at Howie with wide eyes. "We were right." She said, staring back at the monitor. "She seems to be in perfect health, too. Let's just hope that you are as well." Dr. Mercer replied making eye contact with Breanna. "I'm fine. I met with my other doctor yesterday. I'm in perfect health. I can get off the medicine if I want, too!" Howie looked at Breanna as his chin hit the floor. "Why didn't you tell me?" He questioned. "I wanted to wait to see if our baby was alright first." She replied. "Well, looks like you two have some things to discuss. You're baby is fine so you're free to go. But, I want to see you here in two weeks to make sure she's not getting too big or we'll have to induce labor." Breanna nodded in agreement as she pulled her pants back up and her shirt down. Howie left the room to go wait in the waiting room.

Once they were out of the doctors office, little was said. "Are you going to say anything?" She asked him on the way home. "What do you want me to say?" He asked back, not taking his eyes off the road. "That you're not angry with me. That you're not upset. That you don't hate me." She replied. At the next stop light, Howie turned to face Breanna. "Bree, I'm not angry with you. Yeah, I'm upset but that's because you didn't tell me. And last, I don't hate you. I could never hate you. I love you more than anything, but sometimes I wonder why." He paused to let Breanna comprehend his words.  "You haven't said that to me in a long time." She whispered. "I shouldn't have to say it. You should know already." He replied. Breanna stared at her hands while Howie watched her. "Is that it? Do you need me to tell you how I feel? I mean, does that change anything?" He asked.  Breanna looked up at his face and could see the pleading in his eyes. "I still have my insecurities, Howard. I'm not always strong.  I need you to let me know how you feel because I can't read your mind. You should know that." She replied. Howie leaned over and took her hands in his. "Bree, look at me." Breanna looked up slowly. "I love you. More than anything. Even after all of this and all the pain we've caused each other. I still love you and I love our baby." Breanna didn't smile or grin opting to search his eyes for the truth. He leaned over slightly while Breanna tilted her head. After a moment of hesitation they kissed softly. Howie heard a car honk and annoying glanced in the rear view mirror. "What's his problem." "Um, Howie, the lights been green for a minute now." Breanna giggled. "You think this is so funny, don't you?" Breanna looked up at him and smiled sweetly. "Fine, then you can drive to your next doctors appointment. I mean, if you *can* drive considering your stomach would be in the way." Breanna shot Howie an angry look before laughing. "And it's because of you..." "Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's because of me that you're in the situation you're in." Howie finished.

Breanna and Howie teased each other the entire way home. They were both confused by what happened in the car. Howie knew that they had a long way to go before things were back to normal but he wanted to take advantage of the situation. When they arrived home, Breanna saw everyone's cars parked in front of her condo. "What are they doing here?" Breanna asked Howie. "Why don't we go find out?" He asked back, surpressing a smile. "Howard, you're up to something!" She accused. "What? No I'm not! And why do you call me 'Howard' now? You never did before." Howie questioned as he helped her out of the car. "That's because I never had to scold you before." Howie laughed and put his arm out for Breanna. She took it without any hesitation as they walked towards the condo together.