Best friends

I own nothing...

"I'm going to take a shower. You coming up in a minute?" Jordan heads toward the stairs.

"I just want to watch the news first." Angela, who'd already had her shower, says to Jordan as he walks away.

Flipping through the channels, she stopped on the 7-day weather forecast. As she was listening to the twenty-something weather girl in a tight red dress telling her that it was going to be unseasonable hot and humid for early September, her phone rang.

She knew it was Shane, just by the ringtone. Hitting the talk button, she put it to her ear. "Hey, Shane. Is everything ok?"

Although it wasn't uncommon for Shane to call her phone, it was weird that he was calling so late. She immediately starts to worry because Sharon, who is now four months pregnant, had been having complications. She'd been labeled as "high-risk" because they couldn't get her blood pressure under control.

"That's good. You scared me for a minute. Yeah, we're still up. Jordan's just about to get in the shower. Want me to go get him? Oh, ok. No, I don't mind. I'll leave the door unlocked." Angela says goodbye to Shane before ending the call.

Pausing the TV, she heads upstairs. In her bedroom, she grabs her robe off the chair and slips her arms into it. She can hear the water running, but the shower hadn't started yet. She opened the bathroom door and stuck her head inside.

Jordan, standing naked in front of the shower, grins at her. "You gonna join me?"

"Not this time. I already had my shower, remember?" She takes a few seconds just to look at him. It never ceases to amaze her that he's actually hers.

"Well, did you just come to look at me then?" Jordan smirks, watching her eyes travel over him.

"What? No, I came to tell you that Shane called. He's on his way over." Her tongue darts out to wet her lips and she tucks her hair behind her ear.

"Yeah? For what? Doesn't he know what time it is?" He reaches into the shower, turning the knob.

"He said he needed to talk." She watches him step into the shower and pull the door closed.

"This time of night? Tell him I'll be down in a minute."

As Jordan ducks his head under the spray, Angela pulls the bathroom door close and heads back downstairs to wait. She curls into the corner of the sofa and tucks her robe around her before hitting the play button on the remote.

While she's listening about Marty, the three-legged dog, Shane walks in the door. Taking one look at his face, she says, "Hey, what's wrong?"

He walks into the den and flops down on the sofa beside her. "Everything."

Having known Shane for all these years, she knew he wasn't one to overreact. "What exactly do you mean by everything?"

Turning his head to look at her, he says, "I'm thinking about calling off the wedding."

Taken aback, Angela says, "What? Why? I thought everything was going great with you guys."

"So did I. She neglected to tell me that there's a possibility that I may not be the baby's father." Shane looks like he's on the verge of a breakdown.

"She told you that?" Angela is shocked. She knows that Sharon is really in love with Shane. She finds it hard to believe that she'd cheat on him.

"I overheard her say that she didn't know if she should go through with the wedding until she was certain the baby is mine." He scrubbed his hand over his face. "Angela, why didn't she just tell me? When she first found out she was pregnant?"

"Shane, I'm so sorry. I swear I had no idea." Taking his hand in hers, she says, "Does she know that you overheard her?"

"No. I called you just a few minutes after I found out. She was in the bedroom. Me and the twins were in the basement playing video games." With a deep sigh, he closes his eyes. "I told the boys I was heading up to bed. I got as far as the hallway when I heard her talking on the phone."

"What are you gonna do? Are you gonna tell her you know? Just come out and say it?" Angela's brow creases with worry. "She shouldn't get upset. Not right now."

"Ang, I know. That's why I left. I don't want to upset her." Turning to face her, he says, "But I can't just pretend like I don't know. Dammit, this is so hard."

"Do you love her? I mean, I know you think you're in love with her, or you wouldn't have asked her to marry you. But do you love her enough to accept the baby if it isn't yours?" Angela watched the emotions play over his face. It hurt her to know that another one of her friends could do this to him.

"See, that's the thing. I want this baby to be mine more than anything. The thought that it might not be is killing me." Shoving his fingers into his eye sockets, he says, "Jesus! What the hell am I supposed to do? Do I stay with her, wait it out, and then find out the baby isn't mine?"

"Is that what you want to do?" She waits as Shane thinks about it.

"I don't know. I do know that I can't marry her right now. Not with this between us." Shane drops his head into his hands. "I do love her, but I don't know if I can be with her if we find out it's not my baby. Is that wrong of me?"

Angela puts her arm around him. "No, it's not wrong. No one will blame you. She should have been up front with you instead of leading you on."

Shane relaxes against her side, letting his head rest on her shoulder. "Red, I don't want you to chose sides in this, ok? She's gonna need you."

"Shane, she's got plenty of people that she can depend on. It's my right if I want to get pissed off at her." And Angela was very pissed off at Sharon at the moment. "I told her before this thing ever started that if she hurt you, I would kick her ass. When this baby is born, I'm gonna make good on my promise."

Even though Shane is upset, he chuckles. "I believe you will, too."

Jordan walks into the den, his hair wet, dressed only in sweat pants. Seeing Shane in Angela's embrace, he rolls his eyes. "What the hell, Shane? Get off my wife."

When Shane moves to get up, Angela holds him in place. "Be nice, Jordan."

"I thought he came over to talk. Not to get cozy with you on the sofa." Jordan flops down in the recliner, eying the two of them. The two people closest to him in the whole world. He can see how troubled Shane is and he can tell that Angela was feeling protective of him. She was obviously trying to comfort him.

"What's going on?" Jordan asks, looking between the two of them.

"Angela is threatening to kick Sharon's ass." Shane smiles in spite of his heartache.

Sharing a look with his wife, Jordan says, "Yeah. I remember a certain conversation where that may or may not have been mentioned. So what did she do?"

"She slept with someone else and now she doesn't know if the baby is Shane's." Angela tightens her hold on Shane. "If she wasn't pregnant, I'd go give her a piece of my mind."

"How do you know that? Did she tell you?" Jordan questions.

Never lifting his head, Shane says, "No. I heard her telling her mom on the phone that she didn't know if she should go through with the wedding until she knew."

"If it's not yours, whose is it?" Jordan asks, frowning.

Shane looks over to meet Jordan's eyes. "Hell, I don't know. I didn't stick around to find out."

"What are you gonna do? You gonna call it off?" Jordan watched his friend close his eyes.

"I think so. Or at least postpone it. I can't marry her not knowing." Shane sighs wearily.

Jordan watches Angela stroke Shane's hair. He knew in that moment that if it come down to choosing between Shane and Sharon, Angela would chose Shane. Despite the fact that Sharon had been her closet friend since childhood, Shane was like a big brother to her. He'd been there for them, both of them, through everything.

Getting up from the chair, Jordan walks over to the sofa. Standing in front of Angela, he says, "Slide over." Angela and Shane both look up at him. He nudges her knee. "Slide over," he says again.

Shane slides down, then so does Angela. Jordan sits in the spot Angela had just vacated. He pulls Angela into his side and puts his arm around her neck. When she's settled against him, he says to Shane, "Since you're staying here tonight, get comfortable. It'll be just like old times."

As Jordan picks up the remote, flipping through the channels, Shane says, "I probably should go home. Well, back to Sharon's. She doesn't even know I left."

"You can stay here. You've slept in our guest room before." Angela picks up her phone from the coffee table and types out a text to Sharon letting her know that Shane was with them and staying the night. "See, it's all taken care of. We'll deal with it all tomorrow."

"You're sure you don't mind?" Shane asks, looking uncertain.

"Shut up, Shane. Of course we don't mind. What kind of question is that?" Angela pulls him against her side, much the way she was laying against Jordan.

"I just don't want you guys to think I'm putting you in the middle of all this." Shane turns his body so that he's laying on his back. Resting his head on Angela's lap, he dangles his legs over the arm or the sofa.

"You aren't putting us in the middle of anything. You know we're here for you when you need us." Stopping on the Tonight Show, Jordan lays the remote down and reaches over to pull his hair. "If you hadn't come to us, I'd have been pissed."

"Shane, stop worrying about it. Sharon screwed up. Not you." Stroking his hair again, Angela leans her head against Jordan's. "Whatever you decide to do, we'll stand by you."

"This seems like a nightmare. Just a few hours ago, I was thinking about buying a house down the street from here. Painting the nursery, putting a crib together. I was thinking about what it would be like to hold my baby in my arms. There's a good chance that none of that will happen." Turning his face toward the TV so that they don't see him cry, Shane closes his eyes and lets the tears fall.

Angela and Jordan sit quietly with him, letting him get it all out. Jordan pulls Angela tightly against him, kissing her forehead as she continues to comfort Shane. They watch as Jay Leno interviews one guest, then the other. As the musical guest, some band they'd never heard of, performs their new song to end the show, Shane turns his head tilting it back to look at Jordan.

Wrinkling his nose, he says, "God, this sucks. Where do they find these people?"

"These days anybody can get a record deal. They don't even have to have talent." Jordan cringes as the lead singer tries to hit a high note. "Were we ever that bad?"

Angela shakes her head. "Not after you started singing. I don't know how you were before then."

Shane swings his legs around to the floor and sits up. Settling beside Angela, he says, "Tino wasn't half bad. But that one time Joey decided that Graff needed to sing lead was a disaster. I don't think we ever really got any practice in. And then we had to play vertigo that next night."

Jordan groans. "That was horrible. All she could do was stand there and bounce up and down, nodding her head."

"Hey, it turned out great, though. If she hadn't screwed up, then you'd have never tried to sing lead. And Residue would have never come about," Angela reminds him.

As the credits roll, Angela pushes up from the sofa. "Ok, boys. I'm going up to bed. My little alarm clock will wake up in just over 6 hours, so I need to get some sleep."

"I'm gonna sit down here with Shane for a bit. I'll be up in a few minutes," Jordan says to her as she bends over to kiss him.

Shane stands up and pulls her into his arms. He hugs her tightly before kissing her cheek. "Thank you, Angela. For being there for me and for letting me stay."

"I'm so sorry that you're hurting this way." Angela cups his cheek and looks into his eyes. "You know I love you."

"Yeah, I know. I love you, too." He smiles at her and says, "Why can't I just find a girl like you? If you weren't so in love with that dumb ass over there, I'd make you run away with me. We'd be so good together."

"See, I'm sitting right here. You have no shame, Shane." Jordan gives him a dirty look. "You better be glad that I know you're joking. I'd hate to have to kick your ass while you're feeling so shitty."

Grinning at Jordan, Shane hugs Angela again. "Just remember, Red. If you get tired of him, I'll be here."

Laughing, Angela pulls away. "Don't provoke him, Shane." She leans over to kiss Jordan again. "Don't worry, babe. I love him like a brother. You're the only guy for me."

She calls good night to them and heads up the stairs. After watching Angela leave, Jordan turns to Shane. "Are you really ok?"

"Yeah, I will be. I still can't believe it. I thought this was it, you know?" Shane shakes his head. "As much as I want this baby to be mine, I'm worried that she may take Vinnovich back. I think she was seeing him behind my back while we were in LA."

"So the baby may be his?" Jordan is still trying to make sense of it all. "You said you didn't know who the other guy is."

Shane looks at his lap, then back up at Jordan. "Well, I didn't want to say in front of Angela. You know, since Sharon is her oldest friend, but it wasn't Camille that Sharon was talking to. It was Kyle."

"You could have told her that, Shane. 'Cause if it came down to her choosing between you guys, she'd choose you." Jordan doesn't like the idea that Shane would intentionally mislead Angela.

"I don't want her to have to choose. That's why I never said anything about Rayanne. I don't want her to have to choose between one of her best friends and me." Shane scowls at Jordan. "She shouldn't have to."

"Well, don't expect me to keep it from her. And it's her choice, you should let her make it." Jordan punches Shane in the arm. "Don't do this again. Don't try to protect her that way. She's gonna be pissed."

"Forget about that for a minute." Shane turns to face Jordan, his bent knee resting on the sofa. "What if this baby is mine? Am I gonna be able to forget that she slept with him again?"

"Do you love her?" Jordan asks him.

"Yes, I do love her. And as hurt and angry as I am, I kind of understand." Looking Jordan straight in the eye, he explains. "She's been with him for a long time. Longer than even you and Red. It's all she's ever known. And in the beginning, we weren't serious. We made no promises. When I found out she was pregnant, I freaked out. Then the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I did care about her. It wasn't just something residual from high school."

"If it isn't yours?"

"Then I guess I'll deal with that when the time comes." Shane looks at his friend. "Because I want so bad for it to be mine. That's why I don't want Angela to hate Sharon. I pray that this all works out."

Jordan nods in understanding. "Ok. So you talk to Sharon and you guys postpone the wedding until you find out. Since she's already having complications, it would probably be best to wait until the baby's born to do a paternity test. Are you sure you can handle getting closer to her, to the boys and the baby? Five months is a long time to wait."

"I don't have a choice, do I? The way I see it, she's with me now. She loves me and I love her. There's a 50/50 chance that it is my baby. Should I just forget about it until it's born? I don't think I can." Shane gets up from the sofa. "I think I'm ready to go lay down."

Jordan stands up with him. Grabbing Shane, he pulls him into a hug. "It's all going to be fine."

"I hope so, Jay. I really hope so." Shane hugs him back before letting him go. "Thanks, man."

"No need to thank me. That's what family is for, right?" Jordan claps Shane on the back and walks with him up the stairs. At the top, he says, "Get some sleep."

Shane slips into the guest room and shuts the door behind him. Jordan continues down the hall to his bedroom. Stripping down to his boxers, he pulls the covers back and slides in next to Angela. Pulling her against him, he wraps his arm around her waist and kisses her on the shoulder.

"He ok?" she asks him.

"He will be." As she snuggles back against him, he says, "G'night, Red. I love you."

"I know you do," she says, before the both drift off to sleep.

I know it's been a while...I missed them so much I had to pay them a visit! :) Review please!