NEW YORK CITY, NY – KIRSTIN’S LOFT – FEB. 14TH, 2002 – Tuesday

     “What?” Ashley shouted incredulous.

     “Ash, calm down, please. We can…”

     “No, we can’t!” Ashley cut her off without even hearing what she had to say “We can’t anything. The baby is Tom’s?” Ashley shouted again. Kirstin just looked down “Tom’s? That… son of a bitch! He got you pregnant! I can’t believe it! And now… he’s gone! Out of the picture! And I’m left with his baby?” Ashley just shook his head.

     “No, Ashley. I’m left with his baby!” Kirstin got mad at him “You don’t have to worry about it. I can see you’re pretty angry at Tom right now, but it wasn’t just his fault, you know? It takes two to do that. It’s my fault too. And if you can’t handle that, as you clearly can’t, then just don’t. You don’t have to. It’s not your responsibility. So, just get out of here.”

     “But, Kirstin, please, put yourself in my shoes, if that’s possible. What do you think I’m supposed to think? I hate that guy and now I’m gonna have to live with his child? And you weren’t suppose to be that cool about that either! He cheated on you! You shouldn’t be so happy about carrying his baby.” Ashley said and Kirstin got even madder.

     “Listen…” Kirstin said getting really close to Ashley “It’s not his baby. It’s my baby, too. I really don’t like Tom right now, but this child has nothing to do with what he’s done. So why should I be mad at this pregnancy? Why should I put all the anger I feel for Tom over this baby? It doesn’t deserve it! It’s not its fault things ended up the way it did!”

     “K, I’m sorry, but…” Ashley started but got cut off by Kirstin.

     “No, you’re not sorry! You can’t even face me right now, can you?” Kirstin noticed the look in Ashley’s face “You don’t like me right now because of this child.”

     “You know what? It’s true. I can’t really talk to you right now. This is just too much for me. If it was mine, I’d totally be here for you, but now I really don’t know what to do. I’m totally confused. I don’t know what the right thing to do is. I don’t even think there are right things to do. I think there are just things to be done. And I don’t know if I’m prepared for them.”

     “That’s fine.” Kirstin knew it would be too much to ask Ashley to help her with Tom’s child. She had already thought about that before Ashley got there “I guess you are right and I guess I should give you some time to think about it.”

     “Thanks. I’m glad you respect that and understand my side.” Ashley didn’t really know what to say. He was still off. Too much stuff going on in his mind “If you excuse me, I’d like to go now.”

     “Sure.” Kirstin looked down, sad, and followed him to the door. Ashley looked at her while hitting the elevator button “Ashley, I can do this alone. I know I can raise this baby alone. But I really wanted you by my side. So I just want you to consider one thing. It doesn’t matter if it’s yours or Tom’s baby. Either way, it is mine. And either way, I’d like to raise it with you.” Ashley looked at her. They were both serious. It was a tough situation. He looked at her and then entered the elevator. What would he do now?