Sleep well last night?" Justin asked his friend, spooning scrambled eggs onto JC's plate.

"The best I've slept in a long time." he yawned before grabbing a fork and digging in.

"Yeah, I went in to check on Laura and discovered you had already taken care of that." Justin popped a grape into his mouth, staring at his friend.

A light shade of red filled his cheeks. He didn't know why he was blushing. He didn't even understand why he felt he should justify why he slept in Laura's bed the night before. A small part of Justin was happy to see them together the night before, while the other part of him was upset. He couldn't figure out what JC was trying to do. He decided not to mention it anymore and focused on the plans he had put into motion with Hallie the night before.

~~~~~

"What the hell were you doing?" Hallie scolded.

"We fell asleep. Nothing more. Calm down."

"Did you talk to him about the baby?"

"We discussed the situation. I don't think we got very far with it. The plan right now is for him to call when he wants to see the baby. I don't want pre-set dates. It will never work given his career. Why are you more upset about this than me?"

"Guys are such jerks. I sit here and see how miserable you are without him, and want to kill him. And since we've come back here, you've perked up just a little bit more, and your smile is wider. But it's like you are trying to live a false reality. And he isn't helping the situation at all. Especially after last night." Hallie was visibly upset and Laura couldn't understand why.

Hallie hated that JC was bouncing back and forth between Laura and Rachel like a yo yo. "He get's into an argument with the wife-to-be and knows there will always be room for him with his other baby's mom. It's not right."

"You weren't here last night, so don't pass judgments about what did and didn't happen. It's taking every bit of strength I have to be here. And I asked you to come along to keep me from stressing out, but lately you are only adding to it. I am by no means living a false reality, Hallie. I know, we're threw. You don't have to fuckin' remind me every time he and I are in the same room together." Laura stormed out onto the balcony to be alone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laura awoke from her nap to discover that she was home alone again. Justin and JC had gone out to the local bar, while Joey took Hallie out to dinner and a little dancing. She used the time to her advantage. She took a long hot shower and made her way into what Justin liked to call his "great" room. 

There was a pure white baby Grande piano sitting on the side of the room near to window.  Along with a black leather couch that wrapped around the room.  It was the one room in the house that hardly anyone went into because it was so clean, and almost everything in the room, including the carpets, were white as snow.

"Tell the kids about me, when their old enough to...understand...Tell them that their daddy was a good man."

Laura couldn’t help relate to the song. It could have been due to the hormonal roller coaster she was on, but the song seemed to predict her future. Deep down inside she knew that JC might not be around for their child. She knew her ex-best friend like the back of her hand. Rachel would do whatever it took to prevent it. And just as if she swung a magic wand in the air, Rachel came rushing through the front door, calling out to JC. Laura got up and followed the sound of her voice until they were face to face in the foyer. "Where is he?"

Laura was in disbelief over how Rachel barged her way into the house and was demanding to know where JC was. "He’s not here."

"Don’t give me that. His car is outside." Rachel looked her over, robe and disheveled hair, automatically assuming something was awry.

Laura could see the fear on Rachel’s face. Just at that moment you would think a commercial was going to prolong the climax of the moment.  Laura found it ironic that Rachel believed they’d had sex. As much as she wanted to make her squirm, Laura decided not to stoop to her level by leading her on. "He’s out with Justin. They left earlier this afternoon."

Rachel didn’t believe her. She walked past her up the stairs to search for him in all four bedrooms of the house. She descended back down the steps almost disappointed to not find him naked upstairs.

"You mind stopping the soap opera dramatics and tell me what you are really here for?" Laura asked with arms folded across her chest.

"I was looking for my fiancé. That’s it."

Still not believing her little act, Laura walked over to the door and opened it. "Ok. Well now you know he isn’t here, you can go."

Rachel brushed passed her towards the front door and was confronted by Justin and JC as they were walking in.

"What are you doing here?" JC demanded.

"I should be asking you the same question." She blasted. For the next 5 minutes a shouting match occurred. Justin stood back against the wall like an eager spectator. It raged on for a few more minutes before Hallie and Joey found themselves in the middle of "shut the hell up’s" and vigorous hand gestures. Hallie and Joey walked over to Justin who was still standing there, and asked what was going on. He explained and the three of them stood side by side and observed. Hallie spotted Laura out of the corner of her eye. She was leaving the kitchen with a cup of warm milk and seemed unfazed by what was going on.

Embarrassed to have Laura see her being as nosey as the other two, she whispered that she was going upstairs.

The word ‘slut’ and other expletives started flying around. Hallie had enough. "Slut?" She started back down the steps. Laura tried to call after her tp stop her, but it was too late. Joey lunged to stand between the two women who were flailing their arms towards one another. JC wrapped his arms around Rachel to pull her back. In his struggle he looked up and saw Laura standing there blowing into her cup. He was confused by her indifference towards the whole situation. Rachel and Hallie yelled back and forth to one another through Joey and JC’s bodies which were shields to keep them from fighting.

"I got your number, bitch!"

"Hallie…"  Justin shook his head for her not to say anything. "Stop…Hallie."

"Why don’t you tel-"

"HALLIE, SHUT UP!!" Justin’s voice was so loud that it echoed throughout the entire house. Everyone froze. Even Laura stopped in her tracks and had to look over at them.

"Hey Laura. Why don’t you fight your own battles instead of having your girlfriend fight them for you?"

Laura grinned at her and calmly stated, "These people don’t know you like I do, Rachel. So this act that you are putting on doesn’t phase me in the slightest. I’ve seen this charade a thousand times in the past. It gets old."

JC’s looked at her questioningly. Rachel began to spout off more accusations and curses her way, but Laura wasn’t going to sink to her level. "I don’t know what you are up to, nor do I care. Just take your fiancé and go home, Rachel. Just go home."

"He is my fiancé. You just make sure to remember exactly that."

"Take out an ad. Put up a sign. Take a picture. I don’t care." Laura said goodnight to everyone and continued off to bed.

"Let’s go." JC pulled Rachel’s arm and looked towards Justin, "We’re going. I’m sorry about all this."

Justin nodded and followed them to the door. They could hear the two of them shouting in the driveway and everyone remained quiet trying to listen.

"That bitch is whacked out." Joey commented. Hallie, Joey and Justin remained downstairs discussing what had just occurred and their plans of discovering the truth about Rachel.