Alexis

My pregnant belly was like an inflating balloon. The only way I'd even managed to keep it covered was by living in Fred's hoodies, as they've always been baggy on me.

Keeping everyone in the dark about this hadn't been easy. Fred and I had even made a bet about which one of us would be first to open our mouths about our pregnancy. It was only a twenty dollar bet, which was like a penny to the Kings, but it's kept us both quiet. Neither of us likes to lose.

He was pretty confident in the fact that I would be the one to tell Lena, as I was the one carrying the two humans. We both thought she'd pick up quickly, and that I'd cave equally as quick.

But I'd gotten lucky in the sense that Lena and Jo had been trying to get onto the same page in their marriage. It'd caused them to trap themselves inside a bubble and be oblivious to everyone else around them.

"Earth to Alexis," Lena called, waving her hand in front of my face in an attempt to grab my attention.

"Sorry, zoned out again," I replied, as collectively as I could.

She lifted her eyebrow at me and smirked. She knew something was up, and although she hadn't clocked my pregnancy yet, she did with nearly everything else.

"Tonight's a big night."

Lena was in dire need of getting new lingerie, so she said, considering Mrs. Brown had finally given them the okay to get back in bed with each other.

I picked up a lacy red set. "Get this one."

She moved closer to me and inspected it very carefully. Lena was nowhere near the same girl that I'd been introduced to when we were nineteen. She'd changed quite a bit. She'd grown into quite the assertive woman.

We all knew it.

"Maybe I will," she said, grabbing it from my hand. She walked over to the other racks of lingerie, scanning them.

Breathlessly, I attempted to catch up to her. The pregnancy had taken a significant toll on my physical wellbeing, and I knew it would get worse as I went.

My head began to spin, and the next thing I knew, my head met the hardwood floor of the shop. A sharp pain raced through my head, and my vision was blurry.

Lena's iced coffee slipped out of her hands, and she immediately ran over to me. I didn't seem to have any clue of what was happening. I could hear shouting and a lot of fuss around me, but my mind wasn't processing a single thing.

My heavy eyelids covered my eyes, and the only thought in my mind was that I wanted one person, and that person was Freddy King.

~*~

Alexis

My eyes fluttered open, and I immediately noticed that we were no longer in the shopping mall, shopping for Lena's big night. Instead, I was on a hospital bed.

My pregnant belly was painfully evident, considering the hoodie I'd been wearing was draped over the end of the bed.

My eyes scanned the room and all I saw was a little Lena, sitting in the chair beside me. When our eyes met, she quickly jumped up.

"Lex, oh my God, thank God you're okay," she said, obviously extremely relieved.

The hurt was evident in her eyes. This was not the way I wanted my pregnancy to be revealed, not to my best friend.

"When were you going to tell me?" She softly asked.

I tried to form words, but nothing could escape my lips. Lena was quick to understand and grabbed the water from the table beside me, aiding me in drinking it.

"You fainted because you were dehydrated," Lena began, and all of a sudden, everything began to make sense. We'd been to Starbucks, and the smell was extremely off-putting. I didn't bother grabbing anything to drink and left the shop straight away. I guess I'd just forgotten to drink anything.

"I didn't bother calling Fred in case you were keeping this a secret from him, too."

A single tear fell from my right eye. Not because I was sad, but because I was quite angry with myself for forgetting to drink, and also, that this was the way she'd had to find out. At the same time, a small giggle escaped my lips because of the comment she made.

"I know after the miscarriage things have been hard for you, so I understand. I'm not mad, but Alexis, I'm your best friend. You can talk to me."

You lost the bet.

"Please call Fred for me," I weakly said. My voice came out as a croak, and I could feel that I'd begin sobbing any minute now just thinking about the mess that'd been made.

"He knows?" She asked.

"He knows."

"Oh, thank goodness for that." She grabbed her phone out of her bag and dialed Fred's number. By this point, I had zoned out again.

Fred's going to be so angry that this is the way Lena found out. He's going to be angry about the fact that I forgot to get a drink. He was so adamant about me staying home because he had a feeling. He and his stupid feeling got me stuck in a hospital bed.

"He's on his way. I didn't have time to tell him what had happened, but he was angry at me for not calling sooner," she said, dispersing my thoughts.

"I'm so sorry for not telling you, Lena. As much as I wanted to tell you, Fred and I agreed to tell everyone together after we were certain that I wasn't going to lose them. You know, like last time? I knew I wouldn't be able to handle it again, you know?"

"It's okay. I understand why you did it. Did you say them?"

I knew for a fact that sometime in the foreseeable future, when I wasn't lying in a hospital bed, that she would ask all the details.

"Yes, them. We're having twins."

"How far along?"

"Almost ten weeks."

We sat in silence until the door flung open, and it meant one thing. Fred was here.

"Alexis King, so help me God, if you fainted because you were dehydrated, I will personally be the one to..."

His tone made the fact that he wasn't happy apparent, but as soon as he saw me begin to sob, he stopped.

"Fred, not the time," I said.

"Lex, don't ever do that to me again. When L called me, I was in the middle of a meeting. Jo saw the caller ID and started questioning why his wife was calling me. With your pregnancy being out in the open, I have quite the mess to clean. You should be grateful you're the one that's pregnant."

He walked over to the hospital bed and sat beside me, grabbing my hand and began stroking it gently.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen," I whispered, looking up at him.

"I know, Lex, I know."

He looked over at Lena, who was silently observing everything that was happening.

"L, thank you for calling. How are you?" He asked.

"I'm good, thank you. Don't worry about Jo, but you are going to tell him soon, right?"

"Of course, we had a plan to tell the whole family and I'd like to keep it that way, if possible," he said, as though it was a suggestion but I knew he was demanding she kept the secret for us.

"For sure."

I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him close to me. All I wanted was to be close to him. I enjoyed the warmth that radiated from him, and the feeling of being in his arms.

"Time to pay up, King," he said, and all I did was laugh, confusion all over Lena's face as Fred began to laugh with me.

~*~

Jo

The second Fred had walked out of our meeting, the day had quickly gone to shit. But I knew he was tending to his wife, and that was something that I'd never stop him from doing.

I walked out of my office, in dire need of a break from my computer screen and ringing phone. Milo was the first thing I saw, and a tall, tanned blonde standing in front of him.

Milo had a habit of flirting with anything with a vagina. Sure, I did the same thing before Lena, but I at least knew where to draw a line. Milo, on the other hand, did not.

My eyes darted over to Cecilia. I could read her like a book. She was pretending to be busy, but she kept sneaking glances at the pair.

Normally, I would've brushed it off. Blamed it on the fact that he's a twenty-one year old boy, but it was obvious that he and Cecilia had something going on. It was also blatantly obvious that Cecilia had put a lot of trust into him, far more than she needed to.

I watched Cecilia watch them, defeat in her eyes. We'd all taken to Cecilia extremely well, especially Fred and Lex. I felt myself hurt for her, and how she was constantly watching Milo fawn over a different woman every day. 

I never even thought something of this nature could affect me. Spending time with someone as compassionate as Lena had made it obvious that it could.

"Mi," I strongly said, earning his attention.

He looked back at me, lifting an eyebrow.

"Come here," I said, nodding towards my office.

He shot the blonde a smirk and followed me into my office, closing the door behind him. "What's up?"

"You need to stop that," I said, nodding over at him.

He chuckled. "I need to stop what?"

"I'm not stupid," I said, "I know something's going on between you and Cecilia."

He sat down on the edge of my desk. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah, well, I do," I said.

"What's your point?"

"Stop," I said, "you're on a new woman every single day, not to mention, right in front of her. You're making her watch."

"Oh, is it now a crime to flirt?" He asked.

"You're twenty-one years old, Milo," I said, "if you're still playing to make her jealous, you need to grow the hell up."

He laughed, shaking his head. "Why on earth would Cecilia be jealous? When she's the one that I'm fucking?"

"You've already got her wrapped around your goddamn finger, Mi," I said, "that stupid game you're playing, that hurts her."

"Jo, we're not exclusive," he said, "I don't know if I have to spell it out for you-"

"Don't talk to me like I'm fucking stupid," I said, "I'll hurt your feelings."

He shrugged, looking away from me. "I just know what you were doing at my age, so why you're lecturing me is beyond my knowledge."

"We're not talking about what I was doing, we're talking about what you are doing."

"Okay, then what am I doing, Jo?"

"You're making a fool out of yourself," I adamantly stated, "and her, too. And I know damn well your dad taught you better than that. Fred taught you better than that. Hell, I taught you better than that."

"I just really don't think I need a lecture from you. I get it, you're a good testimony, but only because you got a good girl."

"Yeah, one that you will never get if you keep playing this shit," I said, "I'm telling you right now, Mi, it's going to backfire."

"I don't know if this is getting lost in translation, or what," Milo said, shaking his head, "but I think you are under the impression that Cecilia and I are a lot more than we are."

"No, Milo, I see what it could be," I said, "and I see you fucking it up."

"The only reason you didn't fuck yours up is because Lena was a virgin."

I stood only a few inches away from him, my jaw taut. "Keep talking, Mi."

"And what was it that I heard about you?" He asked, "oh, right. That you had a virgin kink."

I smiled, shaking my head. "The only reason you won't ever get someone like her is because you can't keep it in your pants."

"I heard the same shit about you."

"Is everything okay?" Cecilia softly asked, making me keep my eyes glued to Milo's.

"Yeah," I said, nodding, "walk away, Mi."

He shook his head, brushing past me. "I'm leaving."

Cecilia looked up at me, an innocent look on her face. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah," I said, clearing my throat as I rolled my sleeves up, "yeah, he's just fucking immature."

~*~

HII GUYS

SO BIG NEWS: @allyxo_ HAS TO TAKE CREDIT COR THIS BEAUTIFUL CHAPTER

y'all... she wrote the vast majority of this and can we just all agree that that shit SLAPPED?!?

Lena found out that Lex is preggers, and JO AND MILO WHEW CHILE

okay im gonna make this note short and sweet: DONATE TO THE LEBANESE RED CROSS AND HELP IN ANY WAY YOU CAN!! BLACK LIVES MATTER!!! WEAR A MASK 💗

love u guys and be sure to follow her <3