Jason said he would meet her at her house, he wanted to stop by his hotel room first. Brooke had been thinking about how she would tell Jason about her pregnancy for awhile now. It was obvious he wanted more from her than just friendship. She liked Jason very much and thought how easy it would be to fall in love with him if she wasn't still so hung up on Edmund. Jason was a very good man, funny, smart, easy to talk to and he loved taking care of her. She had begun to depend on him in much the same way she had always depended on Edmund when they were just friends. When she and Jason had first started out as friends the pregnancy didn't seem like that big of a deal, but now things were different. Now it could make or break their relationship and she found herself not wanting to lose him as a friend. She didn't know how he would react to finding out she was having another man's baby, most likely he would go running in the opposite direction, but she had to tell him. It wasn't fair to him to let things go any further without him knowing everything.
Jason was sitting in his motel room procrastinating. Any other night he would've raced over to Brooke's, but something in her voice when she said she had something to talk to him about scared him. He hadn't realized how much she meant to him until that moment, and now he was afraid to hear what she had to say. He felt like a teenager sitting there scared to face Brooke. It wasn't like he hadn't had his heart broken before. But he had been feeling so hopeful about things with Brooke and he just wasn't ready for it to end, if that's what was happening. He just didn't know what to think.
Brooke had beer in the refrigerator and dinner in the oven. She decided to wait until after dinner to tell him. She was in no rush, she hadn't realized how much he meant to her until she faced the prospect of losing him. She was glad Jamie was at Tad's and she and Jason would have the house to themselves tonight. She waited nervously for him to arrive.
Finally the doorbell rang, she took a deep breath before she opened the door. Jason stood outside with a huge bouquet of roses and a bottle of wine. He smiled when she opened the door. "Beautiful flowers for a beautiful lady," he said.
She smiled and took the flowers. "Jason, they're so beautiful. Thank you."
She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. He put his arms around her and pulled her into a real kiss. She found herself responding to him and kissed him back. It was long and passionate and she didn't pull away. Finally he did. He laughed, embarrassed. "I'm sorry Brooke. I don't know what came over me."
"There's no need to apologize. Wow! That was some kiss."
"There's more where that came from, but let's go inside first shall we?"
They both laughed. It was so easy to be with her Jason thought to himself. And she was a great kisser. He could get used to that. He followed her into the living room where she offered him a beer. She took the wine into the kitchen and came back with some munchies. "Dinner will be ready soon," she said. "But here are some snacks to tide you over."
After dinner they were sitting on the couch talking, both of them feeling nervous about the "talk" they were supposed to have. Finally Jason said, "You said you wanted to talk to me about something."
Brooke began to wring her hands nervously and she stared at them. "Yes. There's something I need to tell you."
She looked up at him with wide baby blue eyes and he felt himself melting. She looked uncertain and he wanted to take her in his arms and tell her she never had to be uncertain with him, but he didn't. He took her hands and looked in her eyes and said, "What is it Brooke? You can tell me anything. I want you to trust me."
She hesitated, not knowing how to explain. "I've been keeping something from you, from everyone." She looked at him again, wondering what he would think.
Jason squeezed her hands and said, "Just tell me. I can take it, whatever it is."
Brooke took a deep breath and said, "I'm pregnant, about three months."
Jason felt like someone had punched him in the stomach, for a second he couldn't breathe. Then he felt relief. She wasn't telling him she wanted to end their relationship, she was telling him she was pregnant. It wasn't what he'd wanted to hear, but it certainly wasn't the end of the world, it wasn't the end of them.
Brooke was holding her breath waiting for him to say something. She could see the emotions flickering across his face and wondered what he was thinking. It seemed like an eternity before he finally spoke. "It's Edmund's baby," he said simply.
"Yes. It happened shortly before I met you. There was one night after Edmund and Maria got back together, we were working late, it just happened. Since then he's working on his marriage and I'm...moving on."
"He doesn't know, does he?"
"No," she admitted. "It would complicate his life and he's working so hard on his marriage. I don't want to hurt Sam and Maddie. They deserve to have their mommy and daddy together."
"But what about what you want? Doesn't your baby deserve to grow up with its mommy and daddy together?"
"You don't understand. It's complicated," she said as a tear slid down her cheek.
"Edmund deserves to know he's going to be a father. And you both deserve a chance to decide if you want to be together or not. Edmund may be with Maria, but he still has feelings for you. You must know that."
"Of course he has feelings for me, but he's with his soul mate," she sobbed. "You don't know what kind of love they had for each other. It was like no other relationship I've ever seen. I don't want Edmund feeling obligated to me and that's what he'd feel because he's a good man. He'd feel like he owed me something and I don't want that." She wiped the tears angrily away. She hated that she was crying in front of Jason, but she just couldn't help it.
He put his arm around her and held her while she cried. He didn't know what to say or do. He didn't know what she wanted from him.
"Brooke, sooner or later Edmund's going to find out you're pregnant. What are you going to tell him? He's going to suspect immediately that it's his."
"I've already thought of that. I'm going to tell him it's someone else's- Adam's or Tad's. I'm going to ask one of them to pretend they're the father. Edmund knows I slept with Adam and Adam would love to claim this baby was his. I know it sounds terrible, but I'm really doing this for Edmund and his children."
"Are you? Or are you afraid?" He asked.
"Afraid?" She asked looking at him curiously. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, are you afraid to take the chance that you and Edmund might find happiness together? Afraid that this could be the catalyst to bring you two back together. Are you afraid of losing him again?"
Brooke couldn't speak for a minute. How had he gotten to know her so well in such a short time? "No! That's not it at all. You're wrong," she said furiously.
Jason looked at her closely. He knew she was lying, to him and possibly to herself. He knew she was angry because he had struck a nerve. He was treading on dangerous ground and he decided not to push it. "Okay. I'm sorry. It's none of my business," he said.
"No. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten so angry."
They both sat quietly, thinking. Suddenly Jason said, "I'll say the baby's mine."
Brooke looked up at him in shock. "What? You'd do that for me?" "Brooke..." He almost said, "I love you," but didn't. "I want to help you. I want to continue to be an important person in your life. I want to do what's best for you."
"It won't work. I didn't even meet you until three weeks after this baby was conceived. Edmund will know the timing is wrong," Brooke said.
Jason laughed. "Trust me, men don't pay attention to those kinds of details. Just give him an approximate time you're due, if he even asks, and he'll never know the difference."
"But we haven't even slept together. How are we going to convince Edmund we've been sleeping together all along?"
He said, "I think Edmund thinks we've been sleeping together since day one. This would just confirm his suspicions. Look, we've got some time don't we? You're not even showing yet."
"Well, I am if you look closely, but Edmund only sees me at work, so we have some time." She looked at him affectionately and said, "I can't believe you're willing to do this for me."
His response was to kiss her, long and passionately. She responded to him and began kissing him. He kissed her neck and back to her lips. He stopped and looked at her. She had her eyes closed. She opened them and looked at him questioningly. "Why are you stopping?"
"I wasn't sure you wanted..." She stopped him by grabbing his head and pulling him in to her lips. They kissed hungrily. Then he stopped kissing her and said, "Jamie?"
"At Tad's," she murmured as she reached for his lips with hers. Jason ran his hands over her body and started fumbling with the buttons on her blouse. He had waited so long for this moment and now he felt totally uncoordinated.
"Relax Jason," she said as she pushed him back on the couch and began taking his shirt off. She leaned down and kissed him as he slid her blouse off her shoulders and dropped it on the floor. They kissed long and slowly, exploring each other's mouths and bodies. Finally Brooke said, "Let's go to bed. Follow me."
She took him by the hand and led him up the stairs to her room where they fell into bed and explored the next stage of their relationship.