The word hit her like a freight train.

"No!"

She shook her head in disbelief. She couldn't be carrying one of those bastards child! The doctor was still talking to her, but she didn't hear a word he said.

"No, no, no!"

"We took semen samples from all the men involved, and Mr. Richardson, of course. We have a 98% positive identification of the father of the child."

Aileen covered her ears and shook her head again. She didn't want to hear this. Hadn't she been through enough torture? This just wasn't true, it couldn't be.

"Did you hear me?" The doctor asked, gently removing her hands from her ears. "We need to know what your decision will be about the child as soon as possible. Of course, you can delay abortion until about the three month period, but I would recommend that if you do decide to abort the child you do it as soon as possible. It would be much easier procedure for you, considering the ordeal you have just gone through, to get it over with sooner, rather than later."

Aileen thought about that and decided she had to ask. There was a chance it could be Kevin's child, and she could never decide to abort without letting Kevin know, if that was the case.

"Who is the father?" she asked emotionlessly.

"The test results show that the father is Mr.Carter."

Aileen lay on the hospital bed with her head buried under the blankets. She could still hear the doctors words from last night ringing in her ears.

"The father is Mr.Carter..."

Nick.

"Oh my God." She thought "What am I going to do? I have to let Nick know about this and he won't talk to anybody. He wanted to kill himself because he thought Kevin would hate him before, what will he do when he hears this? Oh God, what am I going to tell Kevin?" She moaned. "What am I saying, I can't even tell Kevin! There's no one I can talk to, what in hell am I going to do?"

She was just about to get out of bed to go see Kevin when a huge bouquet of flowers appeared in the doorway.

"Helllloooo! It's the GirlFriend Posse!" someone called out.

The next thing she knew the guys appeared in the room with their girlfriends. AJ with Lex, Howie with Eileen and Brian with Kathy.

"How are you doing today?"

Aileen smiled wanly at them. "If you only knew." she thought. "I'm doing okay, Howie, thanks!"

"You look a little pale, are you sure?" Brian questioned.

"Yes, I'm sure! She quickly changed the subject. "These flowers are gorgeous! Who picked them out?"

The girls laughed. "Do you even have to ask? This bunch couldn't pick daisies from weeds!"

Aileen gathered the flowers in her arms. "They are really beautiful, thanks!" She handed the bouquet to Kathy so that she could put it into a vase. "Hey, how did all of you get in here anyway?"

"We snuck in!" laughed Brian.

"Actually, we are on our way to a press conference about this mess and about how everyone is." AJ explained. "We wanted to say hi first. The nurse let us in."

"Hey, have any of you been in to see Nick yet?" she asked. "They told me he requested no visitors."

Brian looked hurt. "That's right. His mom and dad were in once, he asked them for his drawing stuff and that was it. But, other than doctors, no one else is allowed in. He won't even let Aaron in, and he's dying to see him. I don't understand, he's my best bud and he won't let me, or anyone, help him."

After the gang left, Aileen made her way to the nurses station down the hall. "I was wondering if I could have some aspirin or something?" she asked the attendant nurse. "I'm developing a splitting headache."

The nurse consulted Aileen's chart and nodded. "Just wait here, I'll be right back with them for you."

Aileen smiled gratefully. As soon as the nurse was gone Aileen searched the desk for the room chart. She noted Nick's room number when she found it and carefully placed the chart back on the desk.