Part 3

Nic actually heard her before he saw her. She was laughing with the cashier, and there was no way he could ever forget or mistake that laugh. Her back was facing him, so it wasn't until she picked up her take out off the counter and turned that he saw the bulge.

She's fucking pregnant. Very pregnant, he thought his mouth agape. He stood back as she finished talking; she still had not turned around to see him standing there in shock.

"So when's your due date?" the cashier asked.

"March 16^th," Allie replied.

March 16^th he thought. Nine months before would mean she conceived in June. They were together since mid-June. Could it be his baby? Was Allie having his baby and she wasn't going to tell him? Rage started to boil inside him, and he walked up to stand right behind her, waiting for her to turn around.

The cashier stopped speaking, almost as if she was afraid to continue on. She knew Nic, knew that he and Allie used to frequent the dinner, and right now he didn't look happy. Allie wondered why the cashier had suddenly clammed up. And then, a very familiar scent hit her, a scent she knew intimately, a scent that she still loved and got lost in. She closed her eyes, and barely whispered his name, "Nic."

She turned, and her stomach bumped into him, as he was dangerously close to her. Still he did not budge. She looked up into his eyes, the gray eyes that once were filled with love, and saw an icy cold stare, filled with rage. It was an expression she had never seen from him before and it terrified her.

He grabbed her hand. "Let's go," he said as he began to pull her out of the diner.

"Nic," she began to protest.

"Don't," he commanded. "We are not doing this here, now let's go before I pick you up and drag you out of here."

Nic pulled her down the block to his apartment, not looking back at her. He had a million questions and emotions running through his mind. He let go of her just to unlock the door, and then pulled her inside, slamming the door behind them.

Allie jumped. She didn't think he would hurt her, but had never seen him angry, let alone as furious as he was at this time. She cast her eyes down to the ground, knowing the current situation was of her own doing.

"Is it mine?" he asked her.

She began trying to plead with him, unable to look him in the face, "Nic, I-"

He cut her off, "Goddamnit Allie is the baby mine?"

"Yes," she mumbled, barely audible.

"I can't believe it. I can't believe you never told me. Was that your plan all along? Was I just some stud horse to knock you up?"

"No. I tried to tell you, but-"

"Really? You did? Because I don't remember you ever approaching the subject with me. I don't remember you ever saying 'Nic, I'm pregnant and it's yours.' Did you know when we were still together?"

"I found out the day we broke up," she told him flatly, still unable to look at him.

"Then why the fuck didn't you tell me. I can't believe you'd do something so, so-"

This time it was Allie's turn to cut him off. She stood up and began yelling back at him. "Well gee, let's see, Mr. Rock and Roller, I was going to tell you, but you came in to my apartment that night telling me that you were leaving me to go on tour. What was I suppose to do Nic-tell you so you could just walk away? What would have been the point?"

Nic began to replay the night they broke up in his head, her distance, her coldness. She thought he was abandoning her. "Allie, I wouldn't have left you and the baby. I mean the tour was a temporary thing, not permanent, but if you would have told me, I wouldn't have gone," he said softly.