"What!? Well, what the fuck is she doing living over there anyway?" Hallie asked.

"She left Jerry. She had no where else to go...Or so she told JC. With the whole baby situation, JC wouldn't turn his back on her if she needed a place to stay."

"Is he a fuckin moron? This bitch was sleeping with him and Jerry at the same time and he doesn't think to get a paternity test?"

"I don't know what is going on over there. I hardly speak to him, Hallie. Joey actually gave me that bit of information when he came over with Justin today." Laura stated.

"What else did Joey say?"

"He said that Nikolas had been really sick before I went to see about my mother. The doctors couldn't pin point what was wrong with him. So they took blood samples. Well Nikolas has a different blood type than Jerry and Rachel's. They are both blood type O. Nikolas is blood type B."

"Damn..."

"Exactly...You're a nurse, so you should know." she said matter-of-factly.

"Well. it's impossible for two O parents to produce a B child. If Nikolas were Jerry's he would also be an O. I'm sorry, Laura."

"Eh...It's cool. I'll live."

"Did you talk to your lawyer about the annulment?

"yeah...It's so confusing, but basically it can be granted under different circumstances like if one of us never intended to have children, or always intended to have affairs, and other stuff like that. If those apply then it's possible. It can also be dissolved if it is not consummated." she explained to Hallie.

"See now if the two of you would have passed out right after the vows, that last one might have worked...But no...You horny bastards just had to sleep together!" Hallie laughed.

Laura smiled. "Yeah well after listening to him talk about the annulment process, I think it might be better to just go ahead and get a divorce."

"Why?"

"The annulment is based solely on what our intentions were on our wedding day. It sometimes takes up to 3 or more months to resolve. I would have the burden of proof, because I am the one filing for it. And we have to go through a million different things like witness statements, testimony, our life histories, and psychological appraisals."

Hallie was confused. "Your intentions on your wedding day? What does that mean?"

Laura went on to explain. "He gave me examples. Bigamy, marriage under the age of consent, marriage by force, marriage based on fraud, marriage without disclosing sexual impotency, marriage because of a pregnancy, immaturity, lack of true marital commitment, etc. He said annulments have nothing to do with what happened after we got married. It only has to deal with why we got married."

"Well none of those apply to you...Unless you lie. Divorce might be your best bet. But then again you both were drunk when you got married. Neither of you remembered even marrying the other till the next morning right?"

"I still don't remember that shit!" Laura laughed. "But I'm going to talk to a priest about it today to know for sure if we are able to or not. I'm trying my best to stay away from the D word. Because once it gets out, it's going to be a media frenzy. With the annulment it would dissolve the marriage and treat it as if it had never happened."

"On paper only, Laura. But in your heart? It can't dissolve that part of your heart and mind, hun." Hallie said sympathetically.

Laura could hear the doorbell and got up from her bed with the cordless on her ear as she went to answer it. "I know. But I don't want any of this to hurt his career." she said as she opened the door to see who it was.

"Always worried about him, Laura. What about you? Hello?"

"Hello, Rachel." Laura said as she stared at the woman and Nikolas, who was in her arms.

"Hey. Can we come in?" she asked.

"She's there? Tell that bitch to leave!" Hallie yelled into the phone.

Laura moved aside and said, "Sure. Come on in."

Rachel carried Nikolas into the living room and sat down on the couch and waited for Laura to join them.

"Hallie, let me call you back."

"Kick that bitches ass and call me when you're done!"

Laura pressed end on the phone and held it tightly in her hands. As she walked into the living room she prayed for strength. They both sat on opposite couches. Rachel placed the baby on the floor and handed him some toys. She turned her body to face Laura and began to speak. "Is there something wrong? Ever since you went to see your mother, you've been staying away and keeping to yourself."

"I just have a lot on my plate right now, Rachel."

"I'm sorry if I caused trouble between you and JC. I went over to the hotel room that night with the intention of telling him the truth in front of you, but it didn't end up the way I planned."

"Rachel, I honestly do not want to talk about it. I don't know what the truth is anymore. One minute you are telling me that you don't know who Nikky's father is and the next minute you are telling JC that Nikolas is his son." She said as she threw her hands up in the air.

"Well he is."

"You're positive...Beyond a reasonable doubt that JC is Nikolas' father?"

 Rachel looked down at her son. "I'm mostly positive." She went on to explain to Laura what Joey had told her earlier about the differing blood types.

Laura sat there and pulled gently on the tassels that were hanging off of the throw pillow. "Are you going to take a paternity test?"

"Only if JC wants one."

Laura looked up at Rachel in dismay. "He hasn't asked for one yet?"

"Nope. And we're together every night. Which brings me to the real reason why I'm here."

"Which is?" Laura asked as she stood up. She needed to brace herself for whatever was coming next.

"I know you are mad at me for telling him that you knew the baby might be his...But he asked and I didn't want to dig us in any deeper. And I am truly sorry, Laura. I don't know what made me bring you into it."

Laura walked over to the piano and started repositioning pictures. "In a way I'm glad you told him. It was eating me up inside. I should have told him a long time ago, but my loyalty to you made it impossible. Funny how things happen." she said as she stared at a picture of the three of them together.

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked as she watched her slowly turn the picture down on its face so she would not have to look at it.

"I was just about to tell him before I had to rush and get the plane tickets...Then I come back and he had found out from you. I guess it was just destined to happen that way."

"I know you probably hate me right now. I didn't know that it would cause problems for you and JC's friendship."

Laura didn't want to talk about JC with Rachel.

"I shouldn't even be asking you this right now, but I need your help." Rachel said as she grabbed her purse and began to sort through it.

"I think I am done helping you out for awhile, Rach."

"It's nothing like that Laura."

She sat down on the piano stool and asked, "Then what is it?"

"JC's been acting ackward lately."

"So?" Laura tried to act as though she were not interested.

"Anytime we are together he is always staring off into space. Like he is thinking about something...Or someone."

She desperately tried to block the thoughts of them together out of her mind but it didn't work. She could see visions of JC and Rachel in his bed making love.

"Like last night...I was in the tub and he was on the phone whispering to someone about seeing them that night. I mean when we go to bed I feel as though he is thinking about someone else. Was he dating someone before I moved back in with him?"

Laura's mind was overflowing with visions of the two of them in every sexual position imaginable. They were making love in the same bed Laura had spent so many nights with JC in? 'Why is this getting to me?' she thought to herself. 'They used to be together. This is nothing new, Laura. Get a grip!' she thought.

Not wanting to lie to Rachel, Laura said, "Well if JC had been seeing someone, I am sure he would have told you."

"Yeah, I know. I've found some woman's things in the house. I just would have thought that you would be able to give me an idea of who it might be."

"Well my friendship with JC is just like the one I have with you. Whatever is said in confidence between us stays there. No exceptions...Right?"

That wasn't the answer Rachel had wanted to hear. "You're right. I just figured since you and I have been friends since diapers you would have told me."

"It doesn't matter who I am closer to. If someone tells me something in confidence I am not going to go back and talk about it with the other person. And you know that."

"Yeah but it's disturbing to me when I am looking under the bed for my shoe and I find a shoe box that has a thong in it, a tube of lip gloss, and a pair of earrings. All of which do not belong to me." she said as she pulled the items out of her purse.

Laura sat there in shock as she looked back at her thong in Rachel's hands. She battled with herself on whether or not she would come out and tell her the truth.