The appointment had gone well and Adah was relieved that everything was on track.  She was getting close to her three month mark and that was usually when women were in the clear and there was less chance of a miscarriage.  Adah wasn’t sure if she could keep this baby, but she would be crushed if anything happened to it.

She pointed her car in the direction of Flo’s diner and took a deep breath.  She didn’t know what Justin wanted and she had no idea how to feel about seeing him.  They had only spent one night together and even that night was laced with alcohol and sex.  The only reason she knew his name was because it was Justin Timberlake.  Who didn’t know his name?

The whole situation was completely strange to her.  Having a one night stand with a world-renowned musician; getting pregnant by a total strange; getting a job training the dogs of the same world-renowned stranger that had knocked her up.  Really, it felt like some trashy soap opera script instead of her life.  Except, in a trashy soap opera, the plot would be much more twisted and she and Justin would somehow end up related or something…

But this certainly wasn’t a soap opera.

Stepping into the diner, Adah’s eyes scanned the booths until she spotted Justin.  He was seated in the back, chatting with the waitress, a grin planted on his face.  The grin faltered slightly when he spotter her at the door, but he waved her over and attempted a smile when she sat down.  She ordered a water and waited for the waitress to leave before sitting back in the booth, forcing herself to look Justin in the eyes.

“So…”

Adah cleared her throat.  “Thanks for meeting me.”  She picked at the napkin, unable to look at him anymore.

She caught his shrug out of the corner of her eye.  “I remember that night now, and I remember you.”  He took a deep breath causing Adah to look up at him.  “This is just a little strange for me.  I want to believe you, but then again, I really want you to be lying to me, too.”

“I don’t blame you if you don’t believe me.”  She looked down again, nervous under his blue gaze.  “It’s still pretty strange for me, too.”  The conversation was awkward and Adah was really curious about what Justin wanted.

“I’m sorry about my lawyers.  Rachel wouldn’t give me your phone number and the lawyers wouldn’t give it to me until they spoke with you.”  He cleared his throat, taking a sip of his drink.  “I know they want a paternity test, and they want you to sign a contract saying that you won’t go to tabloids or anything.”

So, there’s the reason she was here.  “Oh.”  She licked her lips slowly.  “And what do you want?”

She watched as he seemingly struggled for words.  “I don’t know.” He finally answered.  “Like I said, part of me believes you, but there’s also a huge part of me that has to be skeptical.  I don’t even know you, except that you train dogs.”

Adah nodded, “You’re right, and I don’t know you, either.”  She sighed.  “I didn’t tell you because I want anything from you, Justin.  I just thought it was the right thing to do.  You had a hand in making this baby and you should at least know about it.  If you don’t want anything to do with it, I understand.  You don’t owe me anything, I just…when you opened the door that first day at your house, I knew I had to say something because you had the right to know.”

“How…how far along are you?”  He seemed extremely uncomfortable to ask, and she wondered how much of this question was about connecting dots in his head and making sure she wasn’t lying.

“I’ll be three months along tomorrow.”  The waitress came back, asking if they wanted to order any food.  Adah wasn’t sure she could stomach anything at this point, so she declined.  Justin ordered a bowl of soup.  “So far everything is going well, but after the three month mark the doctor’s relax a little.  There’s less chance of a miscarriage after the first trimester.”

“That’s good.”  It was obvious he didn’t know what to say to her and she was in the same boat.

“Paternity tests can be done during pregnancy, but they’re risky and I don’t think I could put me or the baby through that.  I’ll gladly submit to one after it’s born, if that’s what you want.”  Adah didn’t know what Justin wanted from her, but she figured honesty was the best way to go at this point.  She had no reason to hide or make things even more difficult.  If he wanted proof that the baby was his, she’d give it to him.

“That’s fine.”  He picked up his glass, spinning it around on the table, making rings of water.  “I’m sorry,” He sighed, “I just have no idea what to think or do at this point.  I…shit.”  He set the glass back down with a thud and rubbed his hands over his face.  “Are you absolutely sure it’s mine?”

Adah smiled, “Yeah.  It can’t be anyone else’s.”  She sipped her water, willing her muscles to relax.

“I just…you have to know how difficult this is for me to swallow?”  His eyes pleaded with her and she felt her stomach tighten.

“About as difficult as it was when I discovered that I was carrying your baby.”  Her face puckered into a frown.  “I can’t imagine that either of us is very excited about this right now.  I have no idea what I’m going to do with this kid.  I don’t even know what I want for my life, never mind a baby.”

His eyes widened a little as a thought struck him.  “Are you going to…to keep it?”

“Yes.” Adah nodded vehemently.  “I’ve thought about adoption, maybe,” She added with a shrug, “but I’m at least going to have it.”

Justin sat back in the booth, letting out a breath.  “How…How can I be sure that this isn’t some…” He hesitated, “some plot or something?  I remember you, I remember that night…and I just can’t help but wonder if you did this on purpose.”

It didn’t surprise Adah to hear Justin ask this question, she just didn’t think she would have to be answering it quite so soon.  Of course she hadn’t gotten pregnant on purpose, but she hardly knew what she wanted to do with this baby, defending her pregnancy wasn’t something she had counted on doing at this point.

“I can’t make you believe anything, I can only tell you that I have no intention of trapping you or making you pay me or anything like that.  This was my mistake.  I decided to sleep with you and I allowed us to have sex without protection.  I will do what I have to do to take care of this baby, I just wanted you know that that it existed.”

She was about to leave, her head spinning and her stomach turning.  She grabbed her purse, setting a few bills down on the table.  Justin sat back in his seat, watching as Adah slowly fell apart in front of him.  Words wouldn’t come to him, so he let her leave, his own head spinning with all of the new information he was trying to process.

Outside, Adah let the tears fall silently.  She stepped into her car, throwing her purse on the passenger seat before resting her head on the steering wheel and letting all of the stress and anxiety of the past few months wash over her.  Seeing Justin just made all of this even more real, and now that she’d talked to him face-to-face and told him that the baby was his…there wasn’t anything else she could do.  The decision was his now, and Adah wasn’t sure which way she wanted him to go.  It might be easier if he never wanted to speak to her again.  She could pretend that the father to her baby was someone else and raise her baby with the help of Brett and Sam.  On the other hand, it would be nice to think that her child could have both parents to love him or her.

A knock on her window interrupted her mini-meltdown, and she looked up to see Justin standing there.  “What?”  She had no room for politeness right now.

“I just wanted to give you my phone number.  In case you needed to call or something.”  He shuffled from foot to foot, looking nothing like the confident musician he really was.

She extended a cautious hand, afraid to make contact with his own.  “Thanks.”  She licked her lips, trying to calm her emotions and get a hold of her thoughts.  “What…ah…what does this mean?”

He shrugged.  “I don’t want to believe you, but I also can’t deny what my gut is telling me.”  He glanced around the parking lot to make sure they were really alone.  “I don’t have any more idea about what to do that you, Adah.”  Her name sounded foreign coming off of his tongue.  “I guess I just don’t want to leave you hanging if you need me or something.  The rest…well…” He shrugged again.

Adah nodded her head slowly.  “Yeah.”  A sudden awkwardness settled over the both of them, and Adah couldn’t think of anything else that could be said.  She gave him an attempted smile before rolling up her window and driving off, thoughts heavy on her mind.

Justin watched her car leave, heading to his own only when the sedan was out of sight.  A part of him felt as if he were making a huge mistake.  It was career suicide to take this woman’s word, especially when he had no idea who she was or what she was about.  For all he knew, she could be playing some twisted game just to get as his money.  But then again, there was something to be said for a person’s gut reaction, and Justin’s was telling him that Adah was being nothing but honest.  There was something in the girl’s eyes that looked too haunted for her to be as vindictive as this stunt would require.  He knew his management advised against it, but he trusted her.