Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated in two forevers. I've been to France, where I couldn't get internet! But OMJ, the first thing I log in to see when I got back was that this story got 1K votes before my goal of getting to chapter 41! How can I ever thank you guys? I'm so grateful, honestly! I love you so much! :)

I squeeze Michael tight, wanting him to know that it's okay to cry. He's in a really bad place right now, so his reaction is more-than acceptable.

"Michael... it's okay, shh..." I comfort him a little.

I hear him sob against my chest loudly. "She killed a child!"

"I know, sweetie... I know," I sigh.

Katherine wraps her arms around him, with me. "Baby, it'll be okay. Shh, come, now... it's okay."

He lifts his head from my chest and looks at me and Kate forlornly.

"Becky sweetheart... I know how you feel to lose a child now... and God damn, it hurts so bad!"

The words "so bad" are the most shaky words in that sentence, as he begins to cry again.

I stroke his curls, which are way less spiky than before, and I caress his cheek soothingly with the back of my fingers.

"I know, I know... Michael, I hate to annoy you further, but we have guests downstairs... Halloween party, remember?" I remind him.

He pulls away from me entirely and looks at the doorway, as if it'll help him hear the guests downstairs better.

"Tell them to go home," he mutters dejectedly.

"But... we can't just ask them to leave, Michael... that would be rude of us, especially since you're the one who invited them!"

"I said, tell them to go home," he repeats, seemingly ignoring my last statement.

"And I said, we can't just ask them to leave, cos it'd be rude," I retort.

He stands up from the bed and storms out the room, leaving me and Katherine alone.

"I suppose we better go follow him," I say.

Kate agrees, and we follow Michael, who has gone downstairs, back to the party.

When we're downstairs, we see Michael staggering through the party guests, heading towards the speakers playing the music.

I run his way and grab his arm. "Michael, what are you doing?"

"Ending the party now," he replies.

He pulls the plug of the speakers out, abruptly muting the music that was playing.

"Sorry guys, but the party's over," he announces in a monotone voice.

A few guests, mainly the young ones, all demand to know why, and some refuse to leave.

Despite thinking Michael was wrong to so-abruptly end the party, the guests are now being a little rude, I think.

"Man, what's the big idea?" one younger guest asks. "Why stop the party?"

"Yeah!" another adds angrily. "It's Halloween, asshole! We wanna party!"

"Hey, stop now guys," I intervene calmly.

"No! We wanna party!" a late-teen-aged boy protests. "Turn the music back up, 'kay?"

"No!" Michael yells. "I won't freakin' "turn the music back up" if I don't want to, 'kay?! I've not had a good day, so just get out, now!"

Wow, even I'm surprised at Michael's outburst there. He's never gotten this mad before tonight.

None of the guests move, from pure shock. Most of them have never seen Michael's angry side before.

To this, Michael grows infuriated. "I said, get out, NOW! C'mon! Go! Leave! Party's over!"

"Michael, Michael sweetie," I grab his arm. "Calm down now... please. You've made your point, you don't need to go any further."

Hearing my voice, his set jawline softens, and his angry glare quickly changes to a forlorn frown of sadness as he looks at me.

"Sweetheart... I'm sorry..." he apologises sadly.

He turns to the guests. "I-I'm just sorry, all of you..."

Then, he runs from the room, and me and Katherine, along with Jasper and Charlie, all follow him to our bedroom.

Once we're there, we find Michael lying on the bed, on his stomach, crying into his pillow in pure sadness.

I hate seeing Michael this way...

"Michael baby," Katherine speaks softly.

"Michael darling, what's wrong?" Jasper questions.

"He's... Lisa had an abortion with the child Michael and I wanted to adopt," I explain in a nutshell.

"Oh God," Jasper gasps.

"I'm so sorry, Michael," Charlie frowns, patting Michael's back soothingly.

I'm sitting on the bed, stroking Michael's hair yet again. "Shh, sweetie, you'll be okay..."

With a few minutes' silence, he looks up from the pillow, and at everyone's general direction.

"I'm sorry," he murmurs tearfully.

"Why are you sorry?" I ask.

"I just wish I was a better Michael..." he explains wearily.

"A better Michael?" Katherine repeats his words. "But you're the best Michael that ever lived, honey."

Michael gives a half-smile at his mother's words. "Thanks, mother... but what Lisa did is just..."

He buries his head into his hands to stop us from seeing his tears.

"Michael, c'mon... remember you got your own child coming soon," Katherine reminds him sweetly.

He looks up and widens his eyes. "Yes! I do! And I've been speaking about someone else's kid when I have my own!"

His sadness turns to guilt as he stands up. I stand up, too, and he stands opposite me and takes my hands in his.

"Becky, sweetheart... I'm sorry about the way I've been tonight. You're right, it'll all be okay... I'll be okay, you'll be okay, we'll be okay. And I'm not gonna forget our gorgeous child because of Lisa. Right now, it's only you, me and the baby. We're gonna be a family, a perfect little family, and... I'm gonna miss the idea of adopting Lisa's child, but I can't complain, cos I have my own on the way, due in February, and he or she is gonna be the most beautiful boy or girl I ever laid eyes on, after you, and--"

"Michael," I place my forefinger over his lips to shush him. "You don't need to explain yourself... I understand."

He gives a faint smile. "Sorry... I just got a little excited over the idea of our baby. It's a big thing for me, cos I've never had the feeling of being a parent before... you've had the idea of being a mother before, I hate to say it but... with Alex. With me, it's never happened, and I'm so excited!"

It's cute how quickly his mood changes...

"Michael baby, I'm gonna go downstairs to see if the guests are still here," Katherine says.

"Tell them I said sorry, and that they can carry on with the party if they want," Michael says, looking slightly embarrassed.

Kate nods, and leaves the room, leaving me with Michael, Jasper and Charlie.

"Jasp, Charlie, you wanna go down to the party?" I ask softly.

They exchange glances before looking at me and Michael.

"Michael, do you want us to go downstairs, give you and Becky some alone time?" Charlie asks.

Michael nods. "Please... if you could, that'd be great. Thank you."

Jasper nods, and they both leave the room too, leaving just me and Michael.

I turn my head to face Michael, and he looks down in embarrassment.

"I've been an asshole tonight," he says.

"No you haven't... the way you've been has been totally understandable," I assure him.

"I shouted at our party guests... that was wrong of me, especially since I was the one who invited them here."

"Yeah, well, they shouted back, so that makes them no better, now, does it?"

Realising my point is correct, he looks back up at me and smiles, one side of his mouth higher than the other.

"I guess... but God, I feel sorry for the boy that Lisa was carrying. Firstly to be the son of... that, and secondly to be killed unwillingly... poor little guy..." he frowns.

"But at least he's in a better place now... right?" I smile.

Michael nods. "Yeah, you're right. He would've just been the victim of a lot of conflict and pain if he had been born... and he may even have been the cause of a huge custody battle."

I chuckle, and he takes me into his embrace, rubbing my stomach gently. "Just you, me, and the little one now, sweetheart."

"Yes," I breathe. "You don't mind that?"

"Of course not, it's more than I ever thought I'd get. This stuff only ever happened in my sweetest dreams before I met you..."

I smile at him, for what feels like the millionth time tonight, and I lean my head on his shoulder.

"Hey," he whispers.

I look up at him, still leaning my head on his shoulder. "Yeah?"

"I just realised somethin'. How come I never see your grandparents at any of these parties, huh?" he asks.

"Wow," I breathe. "How the hell did I forget to tell you about them in the year-and-a-half we've been together for?"

He laughs lightly. "I don't know, but... I'd like to know why I never see them... from either side of your family!"

I let out a sigh. "I don't speak to my mom's parents, because they don't like me. When I introduced them to Alex, they didn't like him, but my parents did, so there was a huge conflict between us about whether I stayed with Alex or not, and... they just gave up caring for me and my parents. Technically, they should like me again, now I don't have Alex, but... I dunno..."

"Aww sweetheart, I'm sorry... but... surely you speak to your father's parents, right?" Michael asks unsurely.

"I couldn't if I wanted to," I say dejectedly. "Both of them died of cancer. Grandmother's was skin cancer, grandfather's was pancreatic. Luckily, my dad never got it, and I never got it, so I guess it was just a one-time thing. But I still can't believe I never told you sooner..."

Michael gives a sympathetic look. "And you miss them, don't you..?"

"Yes," I just about manage. "I guess you made me so happy lately that I forgot all the pain I have in my life..."

"Oh, sweetheart," he sighs, bringing me further into is embrace.

He kisses my cheek and tilts his head down so our faces are level. "I'm always here, y'know. Always and forever."

I smile faintly, and wrap my arms around his neck, and press my lips against his in a quick peck. "I know, Michael. And I'll be here, too. Always."

"So... I assume you were closer with your father's family than your mother's?" he asks softly.

I nod. "Yeah... dad's parents used to take me swimming every Saturday, cos they knew I couldn't swim. They made it their mission to see me swim, just once. I never got to show them," I say sadly.

"And you still can't swim. The first date you had with me proved that," Michael smiles faintly, to try and cheer me up.

I chuckle as I remember us falling into the water together on our first date in the boat.

Our first proper kiss, the first kiss we had that wasn't rushed or too soon after meeting.

The most romantic kiss I've ever experienced.

"We should go back there, see your friend Joe again... maybe repeat the first date we had over a year ago," I suggest with a laugh.

Michael exhales through his nose. "Yeah... it would be nice. But let's wait until Mini is born, first!"

I nod. "Of course! Why would I freeze Mini half to death cos we wanna relive a certain event?"

"Hmm, true. Should we go back down to the party? I need to apologise, to be fair."

"Yeah, c'mon, let's go."

He takes my hand after kissing me once, and we walk downstairs to the party.

As soon as everyone sees Michael, they boo and hiss, as if he were the villain of a pantomime or something.

"Guys, no! He let you have the party again, so drop it!" I demand, slightly less politely than I originally intended.

"I wanna say sorry," Michael announces nervously. "Sorry I got mad at you all earlier..."

Some people yell "Okay!" but others yell "Shut up, asshole!" and other insults of the sort.

Why do people feel the need to insult him? That's the millionth time I've heard the name "asshole" tonight, and all the times it's been said, have been calling Michael that name!

Michael just ignores them, and walks through the crowd of people with me.

We arrive at the drinks area, and Michael pours a glass of "blood juice" into a cup.

He holds it out for me to take, but I keep my hands by my side.

"Sweetheart, you need to drink. You'll get dehydrated if you don't drink soon."

"I can't drink, remember? I'm pregnant."

"Did you forget I made normal fruit juice from this stuff, too? It isn't wine!"

Feeling a little embarrassed, I take the cup and drink from it timidly.

"Good," he smiles.

He turns around for only a brief second, but in that second, I hear I loud thud.

I look up from my glass and see Michael, dizzy-eyed, blood dripping from his nose, and looking dazed.

"Michael?!" I cry, running his way.

He's been punched in the face, I bet!

But before I can reach him, he falls to the floor, unconscious.

I crouch down beside him, and try to wipe the blood from his face, and I slap his cheeks to try and bring him back around.

But it's no use.

I hear a faint laugh, and I whip my head up and see...

"Hello, Becky. Nice to see you! It's been so long!"

Soooo... who do you think it is? I bet you all get it straight away, but hey, I'll start the timer now ;) tick tock, tick tock, tick tock... hope you like the slight plot twist :)