“JC, WAIT!”  Jen screamed at his back as he walked out of the room on her. She ran behind him, trying to cause as little of a scene as possible, until she saw him open the door to the balcony. She made a beeline for the door before anyone noticed, and slipped outside. There she found him holding onto the railing taking in several deep breaths, trying to compose himself.

“It will do you well to just leave me alone Jen,” he said. His voice was as cold as she had ever heard it.  This was the most angry she had ever seen him, and she did not want to be on that side of it. He would not even look at her. 

“I had no idea he was gonna do that, Josh. If I had any idea at all, I would have stopped him in his tracks,” she said.  “I know how much Jenna means to you.”

“ Do you? Do you really know how much Jenna really means to me?” JC seethed, turning to look at her. The sight of her made him sick to his stomach. He had not even wanted to come to this stupid party in the first place. He wanted to stick around the rehab center and hang out with Jenna. But between Eric’s pestering him and promising Jenna he would go out, here he was.

“Believe me, Josh. No one here knows how much she means to you more than me.” It killed her soul to say it, but it was true. 

“Then how come he said that in there?  How come he said we were gonna get married?”

“I don’t know.  I froze just as much as you did…” 

“You chose to play along and try to kiss me though, didn't you?” he said, still not able to look at her without wanting to throw up. He had not been this angry in a long, long time. Everything that had happened all rushed back to him, his face turned white. He felt physically ill and angry all at the same time. 

Jen stood there staring at him, all the color draining out of her face as well. All at the meaning of what he had just said. She hadn’t corrected Eric. JC turned around and went back inside the party, jarring her back into reality. 

He headed back into the building in a blind rage, and he did not care who knew it. He walked straight up to Eric and tapped him on the shoulder. When Eric turned around to see him standing there, he smiled. “The man of the hour. Where is your lady love?”

JC landed a right cross square to Eric’s jaw and laid him out cold to a very shocked crowd.

People started to gather around them, and he drew back to hit Eric again, but someone pulled him off of him. JC kept trying to escape his grasp, but he would not let him go. 

“JC, calm down. What the hell is going on with you?” he asked. 

“ I don’t want to talk about it,” he said, as he stopped fighting so much, and the man let him go. 

He shook his hand, not even realizing that his knuckles were bleeding.  Jen came up to them, and said, “Jesus, Josh did you have to hit him?”

He looked at her, and shook his head and said, “Not now,” walking away from Jen and the crowd.  He headed to the bar in search of a drink.

“Josh, wait. I’m sorry. “

JC made his way back out to the balcony, and went out into the crisp night air, where Jen caught up with him.

“Josh, please talk to me.” Jen begged. 

“He had no right to say that. No right.”  He was unable to hold back his tears any longer. “He has no idea what he’s done.”

“I thought that Jenna was getting better, in rehab,” Jen said, confused.” You said that she is walking and talking again. Just really weak.” 

“She is. She is getting better everyday. She is set to come home next weekend. What I don’t need is her finding this out from anyone other than me.”

“Josh, what’s going on?” she asked, genuinely concerned for her ex now. He never acted like this.  He looked like he was gonna vomit.

“Jenna’s pregnant. About 8 weeks,” he croaked. “I don’t need this. Jen, I don’t need his fucking grief. Why is he doing this? When I’m happy, and things are going well for me, why does he have to try and fuck it all up?”

“He thought that you were just going through a phase, and that you still love me,” she said in Eric’s defense.

“I did love you. I still do, but not like that. Not like I love Jenna, and you were the one who made me realize that.  I hate that I hurt you like I did. But, I love her. I love her so much,” he said, a tear escaping down his cheek.

“Josh, I’m sorry.” Her heart broke for him. She put her hand on his shoulder. 

“There’s no reason for you to be sorry, Jen. I just need Eric to lay off. Seriously. In the condition that she is in right now, she could…” He let the end of his sentence go..

“She could do what, Josh?”

“She could lose this baby. And that would kill her.” He paused. “It would kill me. “

“Would it help things any if I were to go with you to the rehab, and we tell her how all this happened? How it all went down? I didn’t want this to happen. Not if it meant hurting you or her or your unborn child. I hope that you know that.”

“You’d do that? For me?”

“I’d still do anything for you, Josh,” she sighed. “I don’t want to see you hurt. I know that losing her or your child would kill you,“ she said, smiling at him. “I knew you loved her before you did, if you remember correctly.”

“Yeah, I was in hardcore denial,” he grinned.

“I had been in hardcore denial for months. That there wasn’t something wrong. That we weren’t working anymore. Just going through the motions. I did not want to admit it to myself or anyone else. But, that night at Rocco’s, it was evident. So I took the bull by the horns,” she said, joining him leaning up against the railing.

“I never meant to hurt you. I hope you know that.”

“I know that,” she said, smiling.  “When you talk about her, you light up. I know that I made the right decision breaking up with you. It led you to the love of your life. And that is all I could ever ask for you, Josh. For you to be happy.”

“She does make me happy,” he grinned. He pulled out his phone, “You want to see a picture?”

“Already? You are so gonna be that goofy dad that chases their kid around with a video camera, aren’t you?” she giggled, and he smiled, as he pulled up the picture of his son that he wanted her to see. It was a tiny blip on the screen, and he hit the play button, and the sound of whooshing filled the air.

She stared at the small screen in awe. “Is that the heartbeat? That’s amazing.”

“ I know, right?” he said, and felt better looking at the picture.

“So you’re gonna be a daddy. I never thought I’d see the day,” she said, still looking at the baby on the screen.

“Yeah, me too. I never dreamed any of this would ever happen. But, I can’t wait to hold him in my arms either.”

“Isn’t it too early to tell the sex?” Jen wondered out loud.

“I know it’s a boy, Jenna dreamed it was a boy, his name is Liam.” JC answered back, his voice full of confidence. 

“Liam will be one lucky kid to have you as a dad, Josh,” Jen said, smiling at him, making him feel better. He did something that she never expected next. He pulled her into his embrace, and tightly hugged her.

“Thank you for understanding,” he said, as he let her go.

“Let's go see her.”

“Now?” he said, looking down at his costume, and then back up at her. 

“Yeah, why not?” Jen said, “Don’t you think she’d like to see the costumes?”

“She would love it,”  he grinned. “ Let’s go.”

They slipped out the back without being detected, and drove to the rehab in separate cars.  JC was glad it wasn’t as late as he thought he would be getting back, though nurses gave Jen and him odd looks as they walked past. 

JC knocked on her door, opening it slowly. To his surprise, Jenna was sitting up in bed in a black nightie. She saw him still in his costume, a bit confused. 

“I thought you’d be later, and change before you came back…”

“I need to tell you something,” JC said, his voice quivering, afraid of how to explain things. 

“WE need to tell you something,” Jen corrected, stepping into view.

“Jen… what are you… Why is she here, Josh? And why does it look like you’re in a couple’s costume?”

“My guess is Eric was trying to get us back together. I had no idea you’d be there tonight, let alone what you were wearing,” JC said to Jen. 

“Same. I’d heard about things with Jenna from Michael, between seeing you and well, what happened.”

“What happened?” Jenna demanded. 

“I guess he heard me talking with Lance about you, assuming that I meant Jen after seeing us talking earlier. He paused the party to congratulate us and announce our engagement.”

“I’m sorry… WHAT?! Please tell me you said something…”

“I didn’t, I was too worried about being hurt, making Eric look stupid at his own party.  Josh walked off, we talked a bit, then he went back in and punched Eric right in the face.”

“Josh, did you say anything to anyone to contradict Eric?”

“No,” he sighed. “I was too shocked, then angry.”

“So someone might post pictures of the two of you tonight and tell the world a lie?”

JC’s phone began to ring, picking up when he  saw it was Lance.  “Hey…”

“What the fuck, JC?  You just let that all happen?! Eric was asking a million questions once he came to, you hit him pretty bad. He overheard us talking, so I had to tell him it wasn’t about Jen.”

“So everyone knows they’re over?” Jenna asked.  She looked at Jen. “Sorry…”

“Nothing to apologize to me for. If it was the other way around, I’d want it corrected so nothing false was getting leaked. Congratulations, by the way, Josh showed me the ultrasound. If he’s happy, that’s what matters to me.”

“Yes, I simply said they aren’t together anymore, and that Eric misunderstood what was said.  The party fizzled out at that point, so we’re heading home now.  Can I say hi to Jenna?”

“You know she can hear you, tell her yourself,” JC said.

“C, I’m on FaceTime, lemme see her.”

“Probably not a great idea,” JC sighed, handing his phone to Jenna. 

“Hi,” she said, an awkward smile on her face, trying to keep just her head in the frame.

“You ok? C said all the wires and stuff were off…”

“I had a different plan of how the night would go once he came back,” Jenna answered. 

“What? Oh… OH!”

“Yeah, definitely weird with Jen in the room right now, no offense…”

“I’ll just go,” Jen replied. “I’m glad things are going well for you two, in just about every way possible.  I mean it, it’s great that you explored this.  You’re gonna make great parents.”  JC could tell by the soft quiver in her voice that she was sincere, but also trying to hold it together and not cry.  She put a hand on his shoulder, JC putting his hand in hers, the two touching briefly before she walked out the door.

“Well, if everything is settled, then I won’t keep you on the phone when you can be doing… other things…” Lance chuckled. 

“Good night, Lance,” JC said, taking his phone back and ending the call.  He looked tentatively at Jenna. “Are you mad?”

“A little, yeah. Is Eric gonna ruin things for us? You weren’t even back with Jen and he announced you two were engaged, something very personal and private. I like to think that when we get there, we get to tell our friends, not have someone else blab before we have a chance.”

“I promise you, Eric is not in on my plan.  He doesn’t even know about the baby yet.  He’s one of the few people I normally tell everything to that I haven’t said anything to.  Though I think if I had, he wouldn’t have been trying so hard to get me and Jen back together.  I won’t tell him now, give him some time and space after tonight.  I’m mad about it, but knowing that it’s been stopped in its tracks helps, along with talking it out with you and Jen.  I felt guilty, it felt nice to be around her again.”

“I get it, Josh.  I figured she might be there tonight, and I trust you completely around her.  I probably shouldn’t, given your history and all that, but I do.  I know you wouldn’t do anything to mess with this.”

“I wouldn’t.  Not when it’s clear what I really want, and who I want it with.”

“Think you have time to go home and change into one of those other costumes?”

“It’s just gonna end up on the floor anyway,” he chuckled.

“Then get that ridiculous costume off and get over here,” she smiled.