Therapy

Paige sighed a heavy breath as she pulled away from Jack slightly, just enough to look up at him. There was a great deal of worry in those dark, deep brown eyes of his. And there was a light, soft shade of red drowning Paige's bright green eyes. She contemplated telling him, feeling horrible because she should be talking to Zack about this. Or Bella. But Bella was happy with her baby and Alex. Of course, Paige was happy with Zack but she just needed to talk to someone who she never really spoke to for serious reasons. Paige loved Jack like a brother, but never had she sat down before and just poured her heart out to him. Maybe now though, it was time.

"Well?" Jack hesitated. "Are you going to tell me? Or do I have to tickle it out of you?"

"Oh God, Jack. Please don't. I'm really not in the mood."

"Yeah, I gathered. So tell me what's up." Jack pressed, prodding Paige in the arm.

She smiled gently and held her arm, faking pain as she sighed again. "Okay, look. If I tell you this, you must not tell anybody else. Okay?"

Jack brought his hand up beside his head. "Scouts honour."

"Jack.. I.. I.." Paige stammered. "I'm jealous of Bella and her baby. I'm jealous of what her and Alex now have. Simply because mine got torn away from me before I even had a chance to know. I was going to be a Mummy, Jack. Zack was going to be a Daddy. Everything was going to be perfect. It's just not fair."

"Paige.. I know you're -"

"I'm not done. Jack. I'm scared." Paige wiped her eyes with her hands.

"Why?" Jack said with a look of confusion slowly forming across his face. "Paige, what's wrong? Please, you're scaring me now."

"Jack.. I.. haven't.. ugh. Jack, I haven't had.. a thing.. y'know.. for ages. I don't know how long. But I'm scared. Because what if I'm pregnant again? Will something go wrong? Will I lose it again? Hell, I don't even know if I'm pregnant and right now, I don't know if I want to be. But what do I do? I can't tell Zack because I know how hurt he was over what happened before. I don't want to keep it in, but I don't want to tell him. Does that make any sense?"

"Of course, Paige. It makes all the sense in the world. What about Bella?" Jack frowned. "She's your best friend, remember?"

"Well.. she's got Alex and Isobel. I just don't want to bring her down. She seems so happy that I feel like if I go to her with this, then I'll just worry her and make her unhappy.. I don't want that."

"Paige, you idiot. She's your best friend. She isn't going to suddenly stop caring. She isn't going to not talk about it with you. You two have been through so much together, I highly doubt she would turn her nose up at you, just because of the situations at hand. Of course, she would be worried but it wouldn't make her unhappy. If anything, knowing that you hadn't gone to her first would make her more unhappy than anything."

"I know. But.. I'm just scared. I mean, I know a missed.. thing.. doesn't always mean pregnancy, but damn it, part of me really wants it to mean that. I want it. I want my second chance."

"I know. I can imagine. Kinda. Look.. how about we come up with a plan?" Jack soothed, running his hands over Paige's head, trying to keep her calm.

Paige looked up at Jack hopefully, shuffling away from him a little bit more, in order to give herself a better glimpse of him. "What do you have in mind?"

"What do you say to.. if in a few more hours when everyone is alive and social.. if you're still not wanting to talk to Bella about it, I drive you to the store and you can go and get one of those.. things. You know what I mean. I don't really like to say the word, I don't know why." Jack shifted his eyes, feeling a little bit awkward.

"I'd like that. That would be nice. Thankyou Jack."

"But, you have to promise me that you will even attempt to speak to Bella about this."

"I promise."

"Good girl. Now go get some sleep. You look absolutely shattered."

"Yeah. In a minute or two." Paige said through a yawn. She snuggled up closer to Jack once more and watched the pointless infomercial on the television as he brought his arm around her and once again, placed another kiss on the top of her head. "I just wanna sort myself out first.. before.. before I go back.." Paige trailed off as she yawned again, slowly falling asleep.

Jack smiled as she drifted off, curled up to him and hopefully having the peaceful sleep that she deserved after all of the turmoil she had been suffering silently. He reached for a blanket on the opposite side of the sofa, being careful not to wake her up and cursing himself for not having longer arms. Having finally managed to reach the blanket after what seemed like a life-long struggle, Jack spread it out and placed it over Paige, just enough to keep her warm and snug.

After another ten minutes of infomercials, Jack finally gave in and fell asleep. Both him and Paige cuddled up on one sofa, and Rian sprawled across the other.