It was a miracle that they were able to even make the flight to Hawaii in the first place, not because of rude security guards but because Sierra was hopeless when it came to getting to the airport from Gwen's house. Her getting them lost twice meant that when they finally did get to the airport, there was barely enough time to get everything checked in and over to the gate, and they were minutes away from being left there. It didn't help at all that only two of the three of them were able-bodied enough to make an attempt to run across the airport—but because it was the third person who was the reason they were somewhere where they'd get lost in the first place, they had to hope that walking quickly would do it for them.

When they did make it to the gate, the guard checking tickets made no comments towards them, but had raised his eyebrows as he scanned and returned their tickets to them. Maybe he had remained silent, aside from his forced greeting and well wishes, because of the glares the three of them were giving him, or maybe it was because he had no idea that he should have questioned what he was letting onto the plane. But his silence let them on, and that flight and the one that directly followed it went well, until they had landed at the airport in Hawaii and everyone aboard turned their phones back on. The sounds of everyone on the plane getting messages filled the air, but it was the phones belonging to those three that quickly became the loudest.

"You think Gwen realized I'm not there?" Heather said with a laugh as she started to listen to the first of many voicemails that she had missed. But just a few seconds into it she gasped and as she kept listening, her eyes widened more and more until it was easy to tell that they were full of worry. "These aren't her. These are some guy I've never heard before. She...something happened, I guess? Guys. We left and something bad happened."

"Shhh, you're probably just overreacting," Sierra replied, while she completely ignored her phone. "She's gotta be just playing a prank on us. She was so dead serious about how if you came with us, something bad was gonna happen to you."

Cody shook his head, reading the text messages that his phone had received over the flights. "No, she's right. I don't know what, but something happened to Gwen after we left and she's pretty mad that there wasn't a certain someone," he pointed at Heather, "waiting at her house for her to come home from the bus station."

"Oh, so we're going to pin the blame here on me? I wasn't the one who invited me to come to Hawaii with you guys!" She deleted all the voicemails after listening through them all, as they weren't really of any use. "Not like it matters though. We're here and we're staying here as long as we're supposed to. She's got friends still in Canada to take care of her."

"I wasn't blaming you, but okay." Cody stood up, as everyone around them already had. "Now let's get going. I want to get off this plane as fast as possible so I can call Gwen to apologize for what we've done." His words got through to Sierra, but Heather didn't bother to move. "Okay, really? We've been on this plane for hours and I'm sure you'd like to get to sit somewhere more comfortable than that chair."

She rolled her eyes and made no intentions of moving. "I don't want to stand and wait on my feet, thank you very much. My feet still hurt from having to rush to get on this plane in the first place. And I'm kinda tired from all the times I got up during the flight." The two standing next to her both looked at her with frowns. "You can't blame me for not wanting to stand. It's difficult."

"You're the one who insisted with coming with." There was no way he was going to be able to squeeze between the back of the chairs in the row ahead of them and Heather without hurting her, so there just wasn't going to be a victory for Cody in this situation. "Besides, did you really have to get up so many times?"

She didn't so much as bat an eyelash as she gave a quick response. "Yes, yes I did. You try sitting for an entire flight with someone pressing on all your insides. Trust me, you're lucky I've gotten used to what she does in there, but it was still pretty bad. Now don't make me get up until we're actually getting off the plane, okay?"

"Fine, whatever." He sat back down and turned away from her to talk to the person on his other side. "Say, Sierra, don't you think this would be much more fun if we hadn't invited her along? We were warned that all she does is complain, and we really should have listened."

"I don't know, Codykins, I think she's got a good point to what she was saying!" Sierra crossed her arms over her chest and proceeded to explain why, exactly, she thought that. "I mean, we don't have any clue what it's like being in her situation, but from what I read, it's like the worst thing ever! I'm sorry, I really am, but I'm pretty sure she's got like every right in the world to complain if that book was even half right."

At the same time that Heather said something about how the book was indeed at least half right, Cody gave Sierra a wide-eyed stare. "Why were you reading pregnancy books? I'm pretty sure that they were bought for a purpose, and that purpose has nothing to do with you."

"I, heh, thought maybe that reading them would cure me of all this baby fever I've got, but I think it only made it worse." She was blushing, seemingly ashamed to have to admit such a thing. "But now I know like everything there is to know about having a baby, and whenever you're ready to give it a shot I'm totally down for it."

"Whoa, no thank you!" Based on his reaction, he wasn't even thinking about it in his dreams, a fact everyone knew. "The closest thing you're ever getting to a child is going to be someone else's, because I am not doing that for you. Ever."

"Not even if I asked nicely?"

He shuddered and stood back up, turning away from her once more. "Not even then. I can't believe you just suggested that. Now we're getting off this plane and I'm going to pretend this conversation never happened, which means we're back to me asking for a certain someone to get up."

"Which I'm still not going to do, by the way." True to her word, it wasn't until nearly every other person on board had gotten off the plane, and the stragglers were only still on because they were fighting with luggage in the overhead compartments, that she finally stood up in her slow manner—but the lack of speed she used was not to tick the others off more, but rather because there really wasn't any other speed she could go. Thankfully no one else was actually trying to get off the plane at that point, or they would have been stuck following the three, all because they were being led by someone who was taking steps slowly to make sure she didn't hurt herself on any of the chairs lining the aisle, on top of other reasons.

By the time they were in the airport, Cody was ready to leave both of the women behind and not look back, one because she was still trying to apologize for her somewhat creepy and uncalled for comments she had made, and the other because he had realized just how big of a mistake it had been to bring her along. But he had to keep them with him, because they were his friends, and friends stuck together even if they got on each other's nerves. Besides, they had just gone through a long day of flying to get to their island destination, and travel was very stressful, especially with other things that were happening that they now knew about. Understanding why he was mad at them both was one thing, but simply understanding didn't mean he had to interact with them.

In fact, except for when he told them in very plain terms that they were sharing the room that was supposed to be his so he could sleep alone, he didn't speak to them again the rest of the day. And almost all of that time was spent with him trying to get a call through to Gwen, to tell her that she had been right all along, that he should have listened to her, and that he wished that someone had been there for her. Nothing went through that he was aware of, and he went to sleep that night angered at the world for dealing him such a terrible hand just days before what was going to be the start of the biggest event of his life.

When morning came, so came with it the reminder that he wasn't in Hawaii alone. He was woken up by the knocks on his door that he had grown used to back home, and even though he was still pretty angry at Sierra for what she had said, he had to let her in. She brought with her an unwilling and unhappy Heather, who, just like the day before, was still being a complaining mess. But these complaints weren't so much about anything that anyone there could control, because she too had spent the previous night trying to get to talk to Gwen about what had happened, with the same results that Cody had. "I don't know why she's not answering," she said as she situated herself in the only chair in that hotel room. "I don't think she's too mad at us. She can't be."

"I think she very well can be, and that's why she's not answering. She told us not to do this, not to bring you, and yet we did and we're here and not only is she alone, but she's been hurt too." He fidgeted with his hands a bit, clearly nervous but also trying to keep himself calm and not too angry. "If you had been there, you would have been around for her, and I think she's most angry about that."

"We all know she didn't want me there." It was an honest statement, one that hurt to be heard. "I have been told so many times about how terrible I am to have around, and I know for a fact that she wanted me gone. Not here with you guys, but gone from her place." Heather sighed, looking up at the ceiling. "She may have wanted what she thought was best for me, but apparently what that meant was for me to be somewhere far away from her. I think she would have been more than happy if you know who decided he was going to come around and take me back."

"But you would have been happy about that too, given the right circumstances," Cody replied, continuing on with his hand-wringing. "Don't think I don't remember that you said that to me. If he came to you with intentions that weren't to get back into a relationship with you, you'd be interested again. It would give everyone what they wanted."

Sierra felt the need to speak then, but she barely got a word out before she was cut off by Heather, who had tilted her head back down and was now glaring at Cody. "No. It would not give everyone what they wanted. I don't want to get back with him. I don't want to live with him. I like how things are going and I wouldn't change them for the world, but if he decided to stop thinking only about himself and focus more on what's best for me, then maybe I'd, uh, want to spend time with him again. Or something."

"Or something? You know you'd eventually get back with him." Once again, when Sierra tried to say something she was stopped by someone else talking, and this time Cody was trying to lay down the facts. "Ever since you met him, you've denied how you've really felt just because you don't want to seem weak. And liking, or even loving, someone isn't weak. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Besides, I'm pretty sure your attraction to him has screwed you over in a way you've got to stop denying, and even if you're convinced you don't like him, and will only like him if he stops wanting you, you've really got to accept that he's got a big reason to want you. A big reason that has made you weaker than simply liking him ever could."

"Yeah, you've got to accept that there's a huge piece of him inside of you," Sierra finally said, taking the opportunity given to her by the silence made by Heather's lack of response. "Well, two huge pieces of him. One's kinda been there since you guys first met, though."

"We aren't starting that argument. Please. I'll accept that ever having feelings for him was probably my weakest point, and it's fucked me over badly, but we aren't going to start talking about when I started to have feelings for him. That's something that I'd rather not go into again as long as I live, okay?" The way she spoke was hiding some deeper meaning, but for that moment, it was all she was going to say on the matter. "As for there being pieces of him inside me, that's about the dumbest thing you've ever wanted me to accept. Of course that's how it is! He...ugh! He was the first guy I gave myself to. The first one I ever wanted to be with. And this is what that got me."

Both Cody and Sierra could do nothing but watch as she wrapped her arms around her stomach the best she could and started crying. "This is all that got me. That's it! Nothing but a damn stupid baby that's going to look just like him and act like him! And I don't know how well I'm going to handle this without his smug ass around to help me!"

"You know, I can say that he has wanted to be around to help, the entire time," Sierra said softly, hoping that by taking a calm voice, she would be able to stop the crying. "Yeah, he wants to be there with you because you guys love each other, but he's totally down for helping. I'm sure you could ask him right now and he'd agree with me!"

"Are you insane? I could never ask him for that. It would just end up with him getting what he wanted, like it always was going to. I'm not going to let that happen." She was still crying, with tears just rolling down her cheeks, but she didn't sound as upset as she had a moment before. "I've stuck it out this long, right? What's stopping me from handling it for the rest of forever? I've got friends, and I know you guys will be there for me and her so much more than he ever could be."

Sierra happily smiled. "Of course! No matter what you'll have me around to watch over the best and most important little baby in the history of ever!"

"Whoa, hey there, no one said I'm going to let you watch her."

"Oh, sorry." Her smile faded, replaced with a curious expression as she heard Heather laughing despite her tears. "Hey, what's so funny?"

"It's just humorous that you really think I'm going to trust you alone with her." The crying was seemingly over, and she was wiping tears from her eyes as she laughed. "I'm pretty sure you'd take her straight to her father, and I'm sorry but I'm not going to ever risk letting that happen. He's not getting what he wants."

"Sierra's done helping him out," Cody reminded her, "and I'm sure she'd be too busy fawning over the fact that she's watching a baby to care about anything like that."

"Yeah! I just want to be able to say that I've held, or played with, or done something with the very first Total Drama baby ever! And since we're friends, you'd do that for me, wouldn't you?" There was no hiding the begging in her voice, but it was justified in that Sierra had been excited about the baby for that very same fact ever since she had found out that there was going to be a baby at all. "I just want to be able to post on my blog that I actually got to be with her. That's all."

"Your blog? I thought I told you no posting anything else about her!" If it weren't almost impossible for her to do it, Heather would have lunged at Sierra and hurt her until she took that back, but since there was no way in the world she was going to be able to move fast enough to do such a thing, her words had to be enough. "If I go on there and find anything else about me that's more recent than the post where you effectively ruined my life..."

Both of her hands in the air in a defensive pose, Sierra immediately began to protect herself. "I promise that's the last thing I posted about you! You might find me mentioning you offhandedly in posts but there's nothing else major on there! Promise!" When she felt the situation had calmed a bit and continuing talking about that matter wouldn't get death glares shot in her direction, she lowered her hands. "Besides, I know well enough that posting that she's a girl and that her name is gonna be Isabella and—"

She was cut off by a groan. "For the last time, that's not going to be her name!"

"Yes it is, that's what you said it was!" Sierra got off the edge of the bed and cautiously got closer and closer to Heather, until she was right next to her and was able to place one hand gently on the swollen stomach before her. "You said it was and I'm so excited about that!"

"Don't touch me," she was coldly told, and she pulled her hand away as Heather just sat there and shook her head at what had just happened. "I never once said that was her name. You must have misheard what I said, because I would never, in a million years, name my child something that has been ruined by a shitty character in a terrible series. Even if the name is cute."

"Oh, haha, sounds like something I'd do, mishearing you about something that important." Sierra took a few small steps backwards, her eyes shifting to the floor. "Sorry if what I did upset you or anything. I just wanna show you I care."

"I'm fairly certain you can show that you care without touching me, or getting the name of my little princess wrong, or anything like that." She looked to Cody, who was just watching what was happening. "Can you please control your woman?"

He sighed. "I'd argue that she's not my woman, but I know that's a pointless argument. I'm not going to control her, though, because me trying to control her would be like, hm..." He stroked his chin in thought for a second. "Oh, right, it would be just like what a certain someone had tried to do to you, wouldn't it?"

"Except you control her in the name of sanity and he tried to control me to make his family proud or something. Totally different situations." She leaned back into the chair, kicking her feet up and nearly hitting Sierra in the process. "Now tell her to go away or something, because she's starting to really bother me."

While Sierra whimpered something about how she could hear what was being said, it was now Cody's turn to be defensive of her. "She's just trying to be a good friend. Like Gwen was. And we see how well her being a good friend to you ended up. Maybe we should have left you back in Canada, so you could have been there for someone who needed you, after she had been there for you all the times you needed her."

"So she was hurt by something at the bus station. Big deal. I'm sure she's fine and she's just playing up not talking to us for the sake of teaching us a lesson. Besides, what's the worst that could happen to her? Dying? I'm pretty sure we'd know if she died, and then we'd go back and that would be the end of that." It was a heartless thing to say, but at that moment, it was all she could think of. She didn't want anything more bad to happen to someone who had cared so much about her in her times of need, but she really didn't think anything else bad could happen.

Later that afternoon they all got confirmation that Gwen was indeed fine, and aside from a nasty gash on her neck that required a bunch of stitches, everything was going to be perfectly fine for her. It took some weight off their shoulders, knowing she was going to be okay after whatever had happened, and it made the next few days before the tournament started go by a lot easier, if without any contact from their dear friend.

There were few things that, looking back on them, had been good about Sierra being involved in the whole attempt to get Alejandro back with Heather. And one of them was the fact that she had always been willing to give exact information about where someone was at any given time, and that included addresses. Without all the little details that she had handed him in their time working together towards the same goal, he wouldn't have been able to do what he was about to do, and after what he had heard about happening, he needed to do this.

After all, there was some involvement of his own when it came to Courtney getting what she had so badly deserved. He thought about that with a solemn look on his face as he stood at the door of a tiny little house, waiting for someone to answer it after several knocks. The person on the other side was exactly who he had expected it to be, in mostly the same state he had last heard she was in. "Uh, what are you doing here?" Gwen's voice was full of shock and surprise, which was quickly turning to anger as she continued. "How did you get my address? Are you telling me you could have come over here at any point and I wouldn't have known it?"

"Yes, but that is not relevant. I need to talk to you about something." The serious tone he used was enough to convince Gwen, who had been through so much because of him over the past several months, to give him a chance. Minutes later, they were staring at each other in silence, unsure of where to go with what needed to be said. "I see you are not wearing pants today. Do you typically greet guests at the door in an undressed state?"

"No, and don't mention my lack of pants again. It's not important here, but you being here is." Gwen was squirming where she sat, tugging her shirt down as far as it would go with her legs crossed tightly. "Tell me why you're here."

"I will in due time, but first I must know why you have no pants on and look like you have been doing something that someone who should be recovering from an attack should not be doing." He looked at her with concern in his eyes and a genuinely curious expression on his face. "You could damage some of those stitches if you do anything too strenuous in nature."

A chuckle was heard up from up on the loft bed, giving what Alejandro had said more credibility. "Okay, how do you know this stuff? You have a lot of things you need to be answering, first one being how you got my address in the first place."

"Ah, that is something I am sure I will get nowhere without explaining. Did it ever cross your mind how Duncan ended up with it as well?" At the sound of his name, a freshly-dyed green head of hair poked out over the edge of the bed, laughter still coming from it. "I am sure he did not tell you, and I do not hear you interrogating him."

"That's because he...whatever. What's your point?"

He turned to look up at the head hanging over the bed's edge. "My point is that you should question his source of knowledge too. You did not tell her how you got her address, did you?"

"Damn straight I didn't," Duncan said, curbing his laughter as he moved back onto the bed properly, then turned so that he could sit over the edge and watch the conversation from above. "I got out of lockup for the brawl, found where they took Gwen, then came here. Been taking care of her since." He took a suggestive tone with his last sentence, and Gwen started to blush, her face lighting up to a vibrant red. "I've been using my mouth for too many other things to tell her how I knew where she lives."

"That was more than I ever wanted to imagine about your relationship, but I think that, since you are not using your mouth in any sexual ways now, you can explain your part of the story and then I can tell mine." Alejandro put his lips together in a stern expression, looking Duncan straight in the eyes. "Or shall I be the one who tells everything?"

"I don't care, dude. If you really want me to explain to her all these details about something I don't really understand your part in, aside from telling me to send letters to Courtney, then so be it."

"Hold on." Gwen's attention was grabbed by the mention of her attacker, and she leaned forward closer to the two guys. "You're responsible for him telling that bitch to be there?"

Although he wasn't looking in her direction, he was positive that by admitting his guilt in that situation, there was a huge chance that he'd get kicked out for what had happened. But that was all part of why he was there, and he had to run that risk. "Yes, I am. It was not my intention for her to snap on you, but I assume that she was hurt so much by me rejecting her that she felt that attacking you was a fair way to deal with it."

"You're going to make this about you? Really? She stabbed me with those keys because she was jealous that Duncan wanted me, not because of anything to do with you!" Gwen stood up, pulling her shirt down to successfully cover everything that didn't need to be out in the open, and she got right into Alejandro's face once she was properly covered. "Now either get out or explain how you know where I live!"

He had been forced to turn his attention to her when she was so close to him, but before he got the chance to speak, Duncan answered the question for him. "He knows because Sierra told him. She told me too. Of course, she told me so that I could send letters to you, but he told me that she told him so that he could have it just in case."

"In case what?"

"In case something happened that required me to come over here. Granted, I believe she had things dealing with my Heather in mind, but coming here to apologize for my role in what happened between you and Courtney is also a fair reason." As carefully and politely as he could, Alejandro got up, moving past Gwen without touching her and disturbing her shirt's perfect position, and made his way to the door. "And now that I am aware that you do not care about my involvement in that, I will leave just like you asked."

She huffed, sitting back down and demanding for him to do the same, which he did. "You can't just come into my house and tell me something like that without explaining. Which I expect you to start doing right now."

"Of course. As I am sure you know from one source or another, namely Sierra, I was working with Courtney to find some lawful way to get myself back with Heather. Quite obviously, it did not work, and all that came from it was a broken heart on my part, and a lot of problems for Courtney." He brought one of his hands to his chin as he continued recounting the events that had led to the attack. "While it was clear that she did not always have the correct intentions in mind, there was one fact that could not be disputed, and that was her need for someone to love. Or, rather, someone to reject her. And that was where I got involved with Duncan and his side of this story, because I needed him to turn Courtney down and make her realize her behavior was not as great as she thought it was."

"Then how did I get involved in this?" Gwen asked, trying to make sense of everything. "Is it because I was housing the woman who scorned you?"

"No, not even in the slightest. You getting involved was all due to Sierra, who figured that getting you and Duncan together once more would get you away from her Cody. Fittingly enough, the original reason she was involved with me and Courtney was because she wanted to get Heather away from them as well." Alejandro laughed, thinking about that entire mess and what had transpired in that dark hallway in Vegas so long ago, where he had called Sierra out on her actions and she had denied them. "But today I came here on my own, not because I bear any ill will towards you, but rather because I must apologize for what happened. Things would have been fine enough without you getting injured."

Still up on the loft, Duncan kicked his feet around a bit. "Nah man, her getting injured has been a lot of fun for us. And it means that Courtney finally gets to see what it's like to be on the wrong side of the law. From what I heard while in lockup, they're going to try to get her good for what she did."

"I could have done without the bleeding and the stitches and the scar that'll be there forever, but really, it's going to make for a cool story someday." This time when Gwen stood up, she didn't care that her lower body was exposed, causing Alejandro to avert his eyes to anywhere that wasn't near her. She was only exposed for a few moments, because she had gotten up to grab herself some pants and quickly put them on. "Now, the part where the nurse tried to call the person who should have been here waiting for me and got a changed voicemail message that said she was on the plane to Hawaii that she shouldn't have been on..."

"What do you mean, that she should not have been on?" Alejandro was looking back at Gwen, this time with a questioning glance. "Is that not her decision, whether or not she goes on a trip? I may have been attempting to control her at one point, but I would never stop her from going somewhere if she chose to go."

Just like when she had been forced to explain the reasoning behind her stance six weeks before, Gwen put a smirk on her face that said she knew what she was talking about. "Looks like you and her both don't seem to realize what a due date exactly means. Although I guess that's forgivable on your part, since she didn't want you around at all." She rolled her eyes as she continued. "And since I was, to put it nicely, the lucky one who got to drive her everywhere she needed to go for the sake of that baby, I'm pretty confident that, unless everything she showed me had the wrong date on it, there is a very real possibility that, well, you know."

"I know what?" He was looking at her blankly now, trying to make sense of what was just said to him. "I apologize, because unlike you, I have no real knowledge about babies and things related to them in the slightest."

"And yet you're going to have one, even though you're never going to see her. Huh." Sitting back down to get herself comfortable for the debate that was surely about to happen, Gwen let her smirk get a bit bigger. "But as I've heard a million times, it wasn't on purpose. Right?"

"That is correct, but do not sound like you are attempting to put the blame on me for this. It was at her insistence that what started this happened. She swore to me that nothing bad would come from it, and while I would never consider my child something bad, this situation is less-than-ideal." He sighed once he was done speaking, but it was overshadowed by Duncan's laughter up on the loft.

"That's about the stupidest thing I've ever heard, and I spent a long time listening to criminals try to justify their behavior." With a loud thud, Duncan jumped from the loft to the floor, brushing himself off when he landed. "Dude, it doesn't matter if she said nothing was going to happen, you still have to make sure it doesn't, and you didn't, and now you're here and she's in Hawaii and that's just how it is."

"What point does her being in Hawaii have to do with anything?"

Gwen's face fell, realizing that she wasn't getting to be as sarcastic with things as she had wanted to because the object of her sarcasm needed things explained to him. "Unless there's a crazy miracle that happens, she's most likely going to have that baby there. And if she does, then there's pretty much no chance that you're going to be part of anything involving your precious little girl that you never once made any fuss about until literally right now."

"That shows how much you know about the situation." There was a pause of a few seconds, in which Alejandro looked at the other two with anger building inside of him, before he continued to speak. "I have cared about that child since the moment I first knew about her. While I will admit I went about the situation incredibly wrong, I wanted what was best for her from the beginning, and now you are telling me that, unless I find my way out of the country on yet another trip that could easily end in failure for me, I may find myself without anything at all?" When Gwen nodded and said that was exactly what she meant, he sighed again, covering his face with his hands. "I should have figured about as much. Getting myself attached to Heather never once ended well for me, and this is no exception."

What happened next was the most surprising thing of all: the sound of sniffles that closely accompanied crying came from behind his hands. "She has stolen my heart and soon will have my little girl kept away from me and this is all my fault. If only I had cared less about what my family would have thought about a bastard child and more about the woman who would be carrying said child!" There was no denying the fact that he was crying by the time he silenced himself, as his last words had been shaky and said in a manner that he had never been heard speaking in before. "If only, then maybe she and I would be together and I could be there for her!"

"Okay, stop the waterworks. It's not cute." Gwen didn't mean to sound so rude, but she did find the dramatics from someone normally so collected a bit jarring. "And maybe, just maybe, I have a way to help you fix all this. But if I help you out, you've got to help me in return. Got it?" He could be seen given a small nod and, with Duncan standing nearby watching curiously, she stated her plan. "So she's out there with Cody and Sierra, both of whom will probably be caring more about that tournament that's the reason they're there than anything. That means that there's a chance she'll be alone when this baby decides she's ready to come, and we don't want that. That's why she was supposed to stay here, so that I'd be around when the time came, but whatever. What happened is in the past and now we've got to come up with a plan that works with what we've got."

"You're not going to suggest what I think you are, are you?" Duncan asked, and the shrug he got in response was not a good enough answer for him. "I don't know if you're thinking this through enough if you are, and if you're not, then good."

She bit down on her lip in thought, but quickly stopped when she realized that time was most likely of the essence, and there wasn't much more she could suggest at that point. "Sorry, but if we're thinking the same thing, it's the only way." With that, she turned to look at Alejandro, who could be heard muttering things to himself in Spanish, and asked him to move his hands off of his face. Once he did, and they locked eyes, she said the strangest thing she could have imagined herself saying at that point. "We've got to get you out there to be for her."

"Oh, that is what you are saying now, but just wait until I am there and she rejects me once again. I apologize for this, but I cannot just go out to Hawaii with the knowledge that I am not only going to be told to leave her alone forever, but that it will be the closest I will ever get to my child." He was just about to start the crying again when he realized what, exactly, he had been told. "Wait a moment, did you honestly just suggest sending me?"

"Yeah. I can't go, because of this," she said, motioning to her stitches, "and Duncan can't go because of probation and other law things. We were going to have to send someone unwilling, and I mean, you ended up right at my front door, so maybe it's for the best if we send you."

"And you do not think that they will react harshly to seeing me?" He touched part of his face, the part that had been bruised up the last time he interacted with Cody and Sierra. "I really do not want another cue to my face, or a fist."

For the second time this conversation, she shrugged. "I can't say what they'll do, but I can say that I really don't care what they do. They brought this upon themselves when they decided to take her out of the country, somewhere they knew I wasn't going to follow."

"They did not take her simply so she could get away from me, correct?" He was given a small nod in response, and he couldn't help but smile. "That is reassuring to hear."

"You haven't had to listen to her go on and on about how much she wants you back in her life. Trust me, this will be a shock to them that you managed to get there, but as long as you don't even think about mentioning marrying her, things should go over well." There was a unsettling feeling in the pit of Gwen's stomach at what she was setting up. This was someone who, for the past several months, she had tried to help keep away from Heather at all costs, and now she was actively trying to get him out to where she was. "Oh, by the way," she said, trying to rid herself of whatever guilt she had, "if they ask how you got there when you do arrive, tell them you're there because of me. Don't hide it and wrap yourself up in more trouble."

"I understand. They most likely will not believe it, but it is better to tell the truth than lie." His smile widened and, if it weren't for the door to the house opening right away and Leshawna coming in, he would have jumped up to hug Gwen. Instead, with the arrival of a new person, he turned to look at her with the same smile.

She dropped the three drinks she was carrying and screamed. "Whoa, no need for that," Duncan calmly said, wide-eyed and looking at her with worry. "He's on our side."

"Sorry, but seein' that boy anywhere just means trouble for someone, and I ain't having none of that today." She bent down to pick up the tray of drinks she had dropped, all of which had spilled a bit on their way to the floor. "Figured I'd treat us all to some coffees while we figured out who gets to jet off to Hawaii for some white-girl rescue, but..."

"We've got a new plan," Gwen told her, standing up, "and it's going to mean a lot more to Heather than any of us going ever could. We're going to send him," she pointed to Alejandro, whose smile was slowly fading as he began realizing what was going to happen, "and reunite him with the woman of his dreams."

"The two of them. In Hawaii. Didn't he almost die the last time that happened?" Leshawna's voice held a bit of concern, but she didn't look away from the drinks she was trying to clean up. "I don't think that's as good of an idea as you think it is, darlin'."

"It might not be a good idea, but it's what's got to happen. Besides, there's a lot more to this than you realize." By that point, Gwen was helping clean the mess the drinks had made, and while she helped, she recounted the entire story as it had been revealed to have been, making sure to, for the first time in a while, paint Alejandro as not as bad of a guy as he had seemed. When they were done, not only was Leshawna less hostile towards him, but she was also thanking him for being willing to make the trip, as well as being kind enough to apologize for his part in the whole debacle at the bus station. That apology had been what had led him to the house, and without it, none of the planning that lasted much of the afternoon would have happened.

By the time the next day rolled around, everything was in place for him to go, and no one had so much as a little bit of a worry that things would go wrong. After all, Gwen was the one who knew what was best in the situation, and if she thought it was safe for him to go, then it was. All that stood between him and getting another shot at being with the woman he loved so dearly was a twelve-hour flight and a lot of searching, when all he had was a hotel name and a choice of one of two room numbers—because that was all Gwen had been given.

The venue for the tournament was a very large events center, an indicator of how many people would be competing in it. When the three entered, they were immediately split up and sent onto different directions; Cody was directed towards the competition meeting, while the women were sent up to the spectator viewing area. It made for a boring time for the two ladies, as there was nothing to watch or do except talk to each other while they waited for the meeting to be done, but it was too early in the morning to be awake. It was a sacrifice they had made for the sake of their friend, though, and they had to power through.

After what felt like hours, but really was only about half of one, Cody came up into the stands where his friends were waiting for him, both mostly asleep and not responsive at all when he looked at them with a fear-struck face. "These people are going to eat me alive!" he shouted, trying to wake them both up. "I'm going to die before this all even starts!"

"Oh hush, Codykins," Sierra said, stifling a yawn. "You're good enough to be here, so you'll do fine. Don't be so hard on yourself."

"I don't think I'll do fine at all! I may have earned a spot here, somehow, but I didn't deserve it! These people are twice my age, have a million times more experience than me, and actually earned their spots here!" He started shaking, and Sierra had to get up and pull him into a large hug to try to calm him. "You don't understand, I think I got this spot because I'm an ex-reality show contestant and that's it! They want people to watch because I used to be famous!"

"No, no, they brought you here because you're good at playing pool. Please don't put yourself down like this." Patting his back to get him to stop freaking out, Sierra had to stifle another yawn. "When are you going to start practicing? That'll remind you of how deserving you are of being here, when you can show everyone else what you've got and you can see that they aren't as great as they say."

"We start in a few minutes," he answered, "and no, it'll make me realize how bad I am compared to all of them. I wouldn't be surprised if I finish dead last out of all the hundreds of people who are competing. They're all just that good."

"Or maybe it'll make you realize how big of liars all of them are, and that you're going to win this whole darn thing and be the champion you've always wanted to be!" She let go of him long enough to pump one arm into the air. "And once you're the champion, maybe you can work on letting me live out my life's dream, huh?"

She tried to get him back into the comforting hug, but he got out of her grasp and backed away. "I don't think so, Sierra. I know that we're friends, and really good ones at that, but I don't want to be anything more than that. You know this."

"I know, but it was worth a shot..."

He smiled, glad she understood, but then an idea struck him. "How about this. If I do manage to win, which won't happen, but hey, let's be hypothetical here, then I will take you out on a date to the nicest place you can think of. We won't be together, but a date's a date, right?"

"Right!" she squealed, waking up the third member of their trio, who sleepily attempted to punch Sierra for waking her. But since neither of the others were paying attention to her, the attempt went without being pointed out and she just sat there, trying to fall back asleep.

"Okay, now that we've settled that, I think I'm going to go down to get ready for practice. If you guys get too bored, you're welcome to go back to the hotel and just come back later tonight." He paused for a second, thinking if there was anything else he wanted to add before he left. "I think I left my phone in my room, anyway, so if you go back could you get that for me?"

"We're going back?" The words were almost unintelligible because they were said mid-yawn, and both of them looked to see Heather staring at them, her attempt at trying to fall back asleep completely futile. "Good. These chairs hurt to sit in."

"We're not going back quite yet, silly." Sierra's happy answer made Heather grumble about something or other and try once again to go back to sleep, and once her eyes were closed and she was completely ignoring the others, it was back to talking to Cody, who was slowly walking away. "Wait! When does this practice end, anyway?"

He shrugged. "Like two or something. Then it's a bunch of meetings and prep stuff until five, and then it's go time. If, or when, you guys go back, just make sure you're here by five. I'll be looking for you guys right over here, so I'll know if you don't show up." As he waved farewell, he added one last thing, on top of another reminder to go to his room and grab his phone for him. "Make sure nothing happens to her, okay? I'm sure Gwen will have our heads twice if we let something happen after we already dragged her here."

"You got it, Cody-wody!" A double thumbs-up later and he was walking away, back down to the hold underneath the seats they were in. "Yeah, you definitely got it..." She turned to face the still-trying to sleep Heather, who was so wrapped up in her attempt to sleep that she didn't even notice that Sierra was once again coming close to try and touch her. It would have been successful, had she actually been asleep, but since she was awake and opened her eyes at the last second, it startled Sierra into falling into a chair and acting as if she hadn't been doing anything. "Oh, you're still awake, haha."

"Yes, like I'm actually going to fall asleep in one of these chairs. Do we really have to watch him practice? We've watched him do this same stupid thing a million times and I am so not feeling sitting here much longer." Stretching while she spoke, it was very clear that she was still incredibly tired, and it might have been more her desire to sleep than any level of comfort in those chairs that was driving her want to go back to the hotel. "Can't we just go back, sleep for a few hours, then return once it's actually close to the time this starts?"

"I don't know, he wouldn't have dragged us along this early if he didn't want us to stay at least a little bit." Sierra looked down to the empty arena floor, its only occupants being pool tables. "How about this, we stay until Cody knows we're still here, then we can go back? Besides, he's totally expecting us to go back but he's expecting us to stay too."

Heather gave an over-dramatic and drawn-out sigh. "Okay, whatever. But I'm going to kick your ass if you're making me stay here and suffer for nothing."

"I promise, it's how it's supposed to be. Once he sees we're still sitting here, we'll go, because at least then he knows we care enough to watch a little bit." She was proud of her plan, but there was one problem with it: due to the amount of people participating, it wasn't until midway through the entire practice session that either of them saw Cody, and even then, he was too busy to look in their direction and see Sierra waving to him to let him know they were there. After he disappeared into the mass of competitors once more, she gave up on trying to get the message across to him and decided that then was when they were leaving. "It's pointless trying to get his attention, so maybe it'll be best if we leave. At least then he'll know he'll be getting his phone later, right?"

"Right. Please tell me we have a way to get back to the hotel that isn't walking." She hadn't even stood up from her seat, and already Heather was complaining about yet another thing. "You better be calling someone to come get us, because even if we're staying just down the road, that is still further than I'm going to walk."

Pulling out her phone to check to see if there was any shuttle service they could use, Sierra started the move towards the exit of the arena, with the expectation that Heather would follow her. The problem was, when she got to the exit doors and had finished arranging for the hotel shuttle to come down the street, pick them up, and take them back to the hotel, she was standing there alone. "Are you kidding me?" she asked, her voice going high-pitched at the end. "You're going so slow to be funny, aren't you?"

As there was no one around to respond, she didn't get a verbal answer. However, she did get a visual one, in the form of one slow, non-exaggerated walk that would more accurately have been referred to as a waddle at that point. "This is getting ridiculous. I know I have to come back later, but ugh. So much walking."

"Is something wrong? I don't remember you being like this earlier." Sierra's mood went from a fake anger to concern in a matter of seconds, and she started fiddling with her phone to calm the anxious feeling that was beginning to overtake her. "Should we go somewhere that isn't the hotel? You don't think it's—"

"Oh fuck no, don't even suggest that!" Heather put her hands to her ears to block out whatever words came out of Sierra's mouth next. Once the taller woman seemed to stop talking, she put her hands down, but not before brushing her still-short hair off of her shoulders. "I'm not going to listen to you say that and then have it happen. Sorry."

"You're still your mean self, so I guess it's just you being funny after all. Good, because I don't think I'd be very good at keeping my calm in that situation." Getting right back into her chipper mood, Sierra started out the doors. "Now we've got to make sure we get in the right shuttle, because apparently there's one that's going to a different hotel that's by the same company, and if you don't really want to walk, then we definitely don't want to go to the wrong place." Thankfully for them both, finding the right van to take them back to their hotel wasn't nearly as hard as Sierra had thought it was going to be, and even better, it was just the two of them going for the ride.

"Hey there ladies," the man behind the wheel of the van said as they got in, one struggling more than the other. "What's the occasion for you being out here? Nice, peaceful vacation? Some sort of babymoon? Heard those are becoming quite common, and if two lovely ladies like you are expecting, then you should celebrate."

The suggestion was enough to get Heather to snap at him, telling him to just shut up and drive. "Don't mind her, haha," Sierra apologized, putting her hand on her companion's leg to try and calm her down. "She's had a stressful last few months, with breaking things off with her baby daddy, and then having all sorts of other stuff happen too."

"Oh, sounds like you two ladies have a long story to tell. I'm all ears, if you want."

It may have been a short drive, but the man's invitation for Sierra to start recounting the events of the past year was too good for her to pass up. "Well, if you insist, I guess I can tell the story! It started when I was approached by this guy that I used to hate. I didn't hate him because of him, or, maybe I did, but I mostly hated him because he was so rude. But anyway, he came to me because he wanted to get back with his old girlfriend that he had stupidly left for some reason he never really told me! I said I'd help him, because gosh, I could help! All my years of compiling information about my friends would finally help me! And that's how this beautiful lady next to me got involved, because she was the woman that guy wanted.

"So they got back together after someone else, who is a total jerk, by the way, got involved. And I guess things were happy between them? I don't know." Sierra looked to Heather to see if she would add any input, but she had already started to try to sleep again, and was not going to be any help. "All I do know is that they were like totally engaged and in love and then they were gonna have a baby! Well I guess they still are having a baby, except he's so not allowed to see her and I'm not either because she found out I was helping him try to get back with her again. Whoops."

"Miss, I'm not getting paid enough to listen to your whole life story. I offered as a pleasantry." The driver looked back to Sierra through the mirror, but when he saw her pull her wallet out of her pocket and extract a few dollars out of it, he changed his tune. "Never mind, keep going. Just know there's like two minutes before we're there."

She made good use of those precious minutes. "Okay, so, that all went down. And you know where it happened? Vegas! We were there for a billiards tournament, which is totally why we're here now, by the way, and all this stuff happened and it was so intense! Oh, and one of my best friends almost killed a guy. He's okay now, but he deserved it. She didn't even get in trouble for shooting him in the head with a confetti cannon, though, which was good because, like I said, he deserved it. A guy shouldn't be allowed to be creepy to a woman. Or, at least, that's what Izzy told me happened. She's the friend with the cannon. I wasn't there when this happened, because I was in trouble with my Codykins for being involved in things I shouldn't have been." There she took a deep breath, before trying to finish up. "I was kinda supposed to invite Izzy to come with me on this trip, but I couldn't find where she ended up! It's like she disappeared from the world or something! But whatever, I wasn't gonna really invite her anyway. I wanted to bring my totally awesome friend Heather along, baby and all."

"That's lovely. Are you going to give me that cash for listening to this or not?" She nodded and he stuck his hand back just long enough to feel the paper in his palm. "Thank you kindly. Now get out of my van, there's other people who won't talk my ear off for me to drive places."

It definitely wasn't the most pleasant of rides, but it had been fun for her and she had finally gotten to tell some living person the story, if in a slightly abridged form. But getting out of the van was its own struggle, as Sierra had the honor of having to wake Heather up and get her to get up from a seat much more comfortable than the one at the events center had been. That went over much slower than the driver would have liked, as he kept muttering things under his breath that made it clear he was only doing his job for the pay and not a single bit of the social interaction. Eventually, though, they were both out of the van and into the hotel's lobby, ready to head up to their shared room to kill a few hours.

Naturally, the first thing Heather did once they were in the room was climb into her bed and start yet another attempt to sleep. At that point, it wasn't so much that she was tired as it was that she just didn't want to have to deal with anything, and sleeping was the only solution she could find to her problem. Sierra didn't see a single thing wrong with that, and while the other bed was used for a nap, hers became her impromptu desk as she laid out her laptop, some pictures she had found in her bag, and everything else she needed for some fan club work. Even though she was on vacation, there was no time to stop working on bettering her websites. As a kicker, she was loudly playing a randomized version of her Canada's finest playlist, and singing along to whatever songs she could.

After about an hour of work, or something resembling it, she decided that she was done for the day and deserved to treat herself with something. "Hey, I think I'm gonna head down to the beach for a bit. Wanna come with?" she asked, knowing that there were one of two outcomes to the situation. One was that she would be told in some rude manner that there was no way in the world she would be accompanied, the other was that she would get no answer at all. The latter was what happened, and that meant that Sierra left the room occupied by a finally-resting Heather who, had she been woken up, would have been once again angry to be awake.

She was still asleep when Sierra came back, and rather than questioning if anything was wrong she decided that it was for the best that she leave her alone. That meant more blasting of music, this time as the soundtrack for the shower that was taken to wash off all the sand collected on her dark skin while down at the beach. It was at this time that Heather woke up from her well-deserved nap, feeling just as she had when she started to sleep, except less tired and more uncomfortable with something, and this time there wasn't any sort of arena chair to blame. "Sierra?" she groggily asked, yawning as she did. As she stretched, she felt a pain inside of her that wasn't too strong, but it was noticeable and took her a bit by surprise. "Oh no. No, that's not happening. Stop that." She pressed at her side a bit, and the pain subsided, going away as quickly as it came on. "There. Better."

The sound of running water had been drowning the music out up to that point, but as the water shut off the music got louder, and so too did the sound of Sierra loudly singing along with it. "Heh, I bet she thinks I can't hear her. She's so weird, especially since she thinks that damn music collection of hers is actually good. I mean, really? She's listening to an entitled wench who thinks she deserves to be someone's girlfriend over someone else. How low could you get?" She laughed to herself, thinking about how Sierra probably wanted the chance to sing that song and have it mean something, but she quickly stopped when the song changed.

"Oh-em-gee, this is my favorite song ever!" The squealing drowned out the music better than the water ever could have, a feat that had seemed impossible until it actually happened, and soon after Sierra's voice could be heard singing along once more. For the next four or five songs, all that Heather heard of them was the music and Sierra's voice, and it was enjoyable enough that she didn't bother moving from her spot, her bed being a perfect place to laugh about the singing.

When another small wave of pain overcame her, she was initially too busy laughing to notice it, but once she did realize that she was hurting once again, a sense of panic began to take hold. "Ha, this is the best joke ever!" she told herself, trying not to think about the reality of the situation. "I think I'm psyching myself out or something. What Sierra said earlier must have gotten to me. There is no way I'm having this kid here in Hawaii. No way at all."

But as the time when they were supposed to head back over to the arena came closer, all of which was spent with Sierra still jamming out to her music while readying herself for cheering at the tournament, things started to progress even more than they already had. The little waves of pain weren't necessarily coming frequently, but they were starting to become more intense, and once they got to the point that she wasn't able to think while it was happening, that was when it was time to get Sierra involved. Getting from the bed over to the bathroom door was probably the fastest that she'd moved in a while, and once she started banging on the door and the music inside stopped, that was when everything became so real. "What do you need? I'm almost done, I swear!" Sierra said, opening the door a crack and letting some of the steam inside out. "Can it wait like five minutes? I've got to finish making my hair irresistible!"

"I don't think anyone's gonna care what it looks like, not where we're going," was the reply Heather gave, pushing the door open a bit more. "Because you had to open your big mouth earlier and make this happen."

"Make what happen? We're going to the tournament, and I'm gonna be so pretty that dearest Cody will have to take back what he said earlier and go on a date with me, even if he loses!"

"I don't know how to break this to you. Oh wait, yeah, I do. Remember earlier how you just sort of casually asked if we needed to somewhere that wasn't here?" She had to think for a moment, but when Sierra said that she did indeed remember that, Heather gave her a look that was almost imploring her to come up with the next logical thing on her own. There was no such luck, however, and so she had to supply the rest herself. "Well, guess what? Because of you, or because something out there really hates me, we do need to go somewhere that isn't here!"

"Duh? I mean, we've got to go back and cheer for my Cody!" Still blissfully unaware of what was happening due to her fixation on someone who had rejected her so many times, Sierra attempted to close the bathroom door to finish preparing herself, but Heather's hands stopped her. "Why can't you just let me finish up, please? I'm really almost done."

It wasn't her intention, but Heather managed to get Sierra to stop focusing on dolling herself up and instead to realize what else was going on with a loud scream that made the squealing from earlier in the afternoon sound like a whisper: "I'm about to have this fucking baby right here in this hotel room unless you stop worrying about how you look and get me anywhere but here!"

Sierra's reaction was to drop her hairbrush and start bouncing around, excitedly going on and on about how awesome it was that it was time for the baby—until it sank in that it meant she was now responsible for getting her friend somewhere proper for the birth of a child, and that meant there was no way she was going to be able to go to the tournament and see Cody, nor did it mean she was going to be able to give him his phone. That, of course, led to a problem of its own, that being how to explain to him why they weren't where they were supposed to be.

A quickly written note taped to his room's door had to suffice, and as quickly as they could go, which was not fast at all given the circumstances, they were on their way to the nearest hospital to their location.

The lights in the arena dimmed, everybody who was part of the first group of competition taking their places for play. When the games were called to begin, Cody couldn't help but look to the stands for his friends in the place they had been that morning, and he was shocked and very hurt when he saw neither of them sitting where they belonged.

He reached to his pocket for his phone, but remembered that he had left it in his room and Sierra was supposed to bring it for him. Which she hadn't, and without it, he had no way of seeing what was going on. Maybe they were running late. The shuttle system could have been overloaded with people trying to come and watch, after all. But after a few minutes and no sight of them, he had to go and see if he could find out what was the matter. "Is it okay if we delay this game a bit?" he asked the judge of the section he was playing in. "I think something might have happened to my guests. They were supposed to be here and they're not."

"I am sorry, but your guests are not our concern," the judge replied, looking coldly at him for still having not started playing his game. "You may either assess the situation after your game has concluded, or you can forfeit and assess it now. There is no way to delay the start any longer than you already have."

If there was one thing in life that Cody wanted more than to become a billiards champion, it was to know that everything was okay with his friends, and if knowing they were fine would push back his achievement of that dream, that was how it would have to be. "Then I guess I forfeit, because they should be here and I know Sierra wouldn't be missing this for the world if it was her choice." As the judge heard the declaration of forfeiting, that was the end of his stay in the tournament, which had lasted a grand total of five minutes. Much like he had suggested before, he was set to finish dead last, but it was just a consequence of knowing what was going on with people who mattered more than any win ever could.

It took getting over to the hotel and to his room to find out what had happened, and in his shock and worry that spawned from reading the note affixed to his door, he completely blanked on removing the note. What he did remember, though, was to run inside and grab his phone, before finding his own way over to his only guess as to where the women were.

It had been somewhat of an intense ride over to the nearest hospital, and strangely enough it was not because of anything that was happening to Heather, as Sierra had ended up freaking out more about everything than she ever could. "What if it happens right here? What if we can't get over there fast enough? I know a lot about things, but helping birth a child isn't one of those things! We would be totally screwed!"

"Calm down, genius. I thought you said you read those baby books at Gwen's place. Obviously if you had, you'd know that I was making things sound worse earlier to get you to take them seriously." Aside from the moments of pain so strong she could barely keep herself from screaming, there wasn't much happening that would justify freaking out. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that this isn't even the real deal. I'm hoping that we get there, they look, they say that I'm just worrying about nothing, and then we go back."

"I don't know, I did read those books and the way you start looking like you're about to cry when you start hurting makes me think that we're gonna be seeing a baby here real soon!" Even while she was in the middle of a freak-out, Sierra found the ability to squeal at a happy mention of the child. "I just wish we could have told Cody what was going on..."

"He'll find out when he comes looking for us. Not our fault that he left his phone at the hotel. He should have known something was going to happen. I mean, that's what Gwen kept telling us, but we didn't listen and maybe we should have." Admitting that she was wrong about something was never a thing that Heather liked doing, so whenever she could admit it but also drag down others at the same time, she would do it. "Mostly because she'd be more of a help than you're being."

"I'm being lots of help! I'm just worried that he won't find out and he'll miss it, and I know how mad you'd be if I'm the first one of your friends to see the baby." Sierra sighed, calming herself down and looking dejectedly out the window. "Because I know how much you don't really like me, and..."

There would have been waterworks there in the backseat of the cab they were in, if it wasn't for Heather grabbing Sierra's arm and pulling her over to the other side of the seat. "Listen, I may not like you that much, but at least I like you a bit. That's more than most people can say, and it means a lot to me that you're here instead of some stranger. Yeah, okay, maybe I would like it more if someone who hasn't betrayed me was here, but I'll take what I can get."

"So you're saying you don't hate me?" Sierra's spirits rose a bit as she asked, hoping for a positive answer.

"Nope, I don't hate you."

That was the answer she had wanted, and she squealed in response, stomping her feet on the floor of the car as she did. "Does this mean that you'll let me see the baby first?"

"No promises, but if you're the only friend around, yes." It was something she hoped she wouldn't have to regret saying, because she really did hope that Cody would be there so that, if anything, it could be both of them seeing her at the same time, and there would be less of a chance of Sierra making posts gushing about the moment if there was someone accompanying her. As luck would have it, he would be there long before there was even a realistic chance of the baby's arrival, coming into a bright and sterile hospital room with worry in his eyes and his body shaking with nerves. When he came in, both women expressed their happiness that he had made it, but while Sierra did so by grabbing him and hugging him, Heather did it by making a comment that called back to the one she had said earlier: "Oh, well, look at that. Looks like you're not the only friend around after all, Sierra."

She didn't seem to mind, still hugging Cody tightly when she replied with, "that's okay, because my Codykins is here!" Then she abruptly let go of him, her eyes looking to the clock on the wall. "I don't know why he's here though, because it's too early for him to be done playing for the night! Did something happen?"

"Something sure did happen, and that was you two not being in the stands for me, and no matter how much winning that would have meant, I wasn't going to play while I didn't know where you two were." He scuffed the floor a bit with his shoe, as the two ladies shared a glance between them while they realized that he must have quit playing just to come find them. When asked about it, he shrugged it off. "There's always the next time they want to include me for me to try again. Today, though, there's something way more important for me to be doing."

"That being what, sitting around waiting for something to happen here?" Heather gave a small laugh. "You'd be having more fun getting your ass kicked at pool than being here, I'm sure."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Are you saying you don't want me around?"

"No, she's saying that nothing's gonna happen tonight." Having exhausted what remained of her excitement, Sierra collapsed into one of the chairs in the room. "We're only gonna stay here because it's better to stay here than be back at the hotel. At least if we're here and something happens, she's got someone to ask for help that isn't me. I'm no good at being moral support."

Still not completely sure about what that meant, Cody knew he had to turn to the source and get the story from her. "So you want me around, but we have to be here?"

"You guys don't have to be here, by any means. And I'm totally okay with you deciding you want to go back and sleep in comfortable beds, if that's how it has to happen. I'm just stuck here because they don't want anything happening at the hotel or on the ride back over here." She laughed again, before giving a deep sigh. "It sucks though, because this," she patted the hospital bed she was reclining on, "is not the most relaxing of places to be right now, and I'd really like to be somewhere I could maybe sleep if I wanted to."

"If this is for the best, then I guess you'll have to deal with it. Sorry." He frowned, pulling a chair over to the side of the bed and sitting down next to it. "At least you have us for company."

She looked to him and gave him a smile. "Yeah, there's that. One positive in all of this."

There was a note attached to the door of one of the rooms Gwen had given him the number for, and even in the tired state he was in from having very recently gotten off the plane and over to this hotel, Alejandro knew that it had to mean something. He could recognize Sierra's handwriting from far away, and if she was putting a note up, there was some reason behind it that could not be ignored. But he was just tired enough to not be able to make sense of the scribbles on the paper, and so he took it from where it had been taped and decided that it would be for the best if he waited until after he had gotten some sort of rest before he tried to decipher it.

However, that plan went straight to pieces after he reported the status of his mission back to Gwen, who first wanted proof that there was a note, then she wanted to know what it said. "I really think it would be best if I waited until morning to tell you that," he explained, holding his phone to his ear with one hand while holding the paper in the other. "Sometimes when Sierra writes things, it is impossible to understand them without deep thought, which I do not think I would properly be able to do at this point."

"I get it, it's a long day of flying to get out there, but come on. You want Heather back, don't you? Because either that note you've got will tell you something about her, or it's just useless and you'll have to go back there in the morning. What time is it there, anyway? Like midnight, right?" Gwen sounded tired, because of the large difference in times between her location in Canada and where Alejandro was now in Hawaii, but she had been woken up by him calling to tell her the information, and he had not gotten the chance to sleep on the plane due to all the possibilities of what could be waiting for him in this island paradise. So when he told her that it was indeed that late, she changed her mind about what he should do. "Okay, maybe you can wait and figure all this out later. Don't want you jumping to conclusions about things."

"I highly doubt this is of any interest to me, anyway. It is addressed to Cody, and we both know that means it most likely is a love letter of some sort. I will let you know what it means when I find out, regardless of it is helpful or not." He hung up not long after that, and was ready to get a room of his own in that hotel when he noticed a string of words he hadn't even tried to pick out of the letter before. It wasn't anything too shocking, just that they weren't going to make it to the tournament, and while he could easily guess who "they" was referring to, he wasn't going to find the reason behind why they wouldn't be there when he could barely see straight at that point.

A few hours later, after not only getting himself a room at the same hotel the others were staying at but one on the same floor as them, as well as getting some well-deserved sleep, he was woken up by his phone ringing constantly. It wasn't for a call but rather a string of messages—and when he looked at them, it was apparent that they were sent under the assumption that he would have had his phone silenced for the night. They were from Gwen, and aside from the first message, they were all forwards from someone else, but reading the first message made him curious as to what the others said.

"I know you're asleep," the message read, "and that this is me being a traitor to my friends, but you have a right to know this when you wake up. Whatever that note said isn't relevant anymore, because now I've got word from one of the others about what's happening." He was still incredibly tired, having only gotten a few hours of sleep, but the curiosity got the better of him and he had to see what word she had been sent that she felt he needed to see.

The forwards were all timestamped and had who sent them in the message, so if this was some sort of prank that Gwen was pulling to make him look and feel like a fool, it was definitely an elaborate one. After he woke up a bit more he embarked on the journey of reading the list of messages, but after two he was about to jump out of bed and find wherever it was that these were being sent from. Now there wasn't much that would ever make Alejandro want to pass up the opportunity to get some beauty sleep, but this was one thing that he would gladly do that for. He sent Gwen a message telling her that she had woken him up with her texts, but that he was okay with that and would be acting on what she had sent.

By the time she had responded telling him that it might not be the best idea to do that at such an early hour, he was already on his way out of the room. He couldn't just sit around and do nothing when he had the knowledge that the time of his precious child coming into the world was drawing near, even though he wasn't supposed to know that.

The decision to tell Gwen what was happening was a joint decision by all three people in the hospital room, because even though she would be angry to know that she wasn't going to be present, it was also going to give her the opportunity to rub it in their faces that she was right all along. That didn't happen, and while she did express some anger that she wasn't there, she made no comments on her being right and them being wrong. In fact, she seemed perfectly content with the fact that they had gotten what was coming to them. She did make it clear that she did want constant updates due to her being so far away, but that was all she said on the matter.

"You'd think she'd want to make us feel bad for being here," Cody commented, as he typed out a message that answered the somewhat pointed question of where they were, room numbers and all. "But no, all she's doing is wanting to know where we are. I think she might be planning something."

"Probably flowers and balloons and stuff!" Sierra put her hands on her jaw line and squealed. "For the pretty princess!"

"That doesn't sound like something she would think of doing though, not after what we did to get here." He sighed, regretting those past decisions for a moment before reading the next message he received. "She's asking why I'm the one telling her everything instead of who logically would have let her know. Should I tell her?"

"Yes, and tell her to send flowers!" Almost falling out of her seat from the force of her excitement, Sierra had to catch herself and laughed once she had. "Or tell her that it's because a certain someone threw her phone and broke it."

Cody looked from his phone's screen over to the shattered one sitting on the table closest to the bed in the room. "Yeah, we're not going to tell her that. It would probably make her even more angry that she can't get anything straight from the source."

"To be fair, I threw it because I didn't want that guy anywhere near my bits, thank you very much." Even though she had broken her phone for the sake of getting a male doctor out of the room, there was no regret in Heather's voice. "It got me my way, and it was totally worth it."

"You mean, totally worth making me and Sierra have to field all questions about what's happening. Right." He yawned, the late hour starting to hit him hard. "What if we're asleep back at the hotel and something happens?"

"I have an easy solution to that. You don't go back, and just sleep here. Keep me company all night." She was still speaking with her prideful tone, which slightly annoyed her friends. They had both attempted, and planned on doing, what she had suggested, but the problem with it was that, even with the level of exhaustion they both were at, the chairs in the room were too uncomfortable to actually sleep in.

There was nothing stopping Cody from pointing that out, either. "You haven't tried sleeping in any of these chairs, so you have no idea how much it would suck to have to do it. Besides, everyone said that nothing's going to happen for at least a few hours, so there would be no harm in us going. We'd be back before lunch, promise."

"No, I don't want you guys to go. If you're here, there's someone to stop me from hurting anyone who gets close to me that I don't like. If you're gone, then I might actually manage to hurt someone. We don't want that, do we?" It wasn't something they wanted, but with how tired they were, both of them not having had the luxury of several naps over the course of the previous day, they really didn't care if it happened or not. When Sierra said that she'd be more interested in hearing the story of someone being kicked over having to stay up any longer in the chair she was in, it elicited an angered sound from Heather. "Okay, fine, go. Whatever. I see how it is."

"It'll be fine without us here. You're like the strongest woman I've ever met, and you can handle this for a few hours without us around." Cody came closer to the bed and put a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder, but she pushed it off. "Or you can act like a spoiled kid and throw a fit that we're tired and need to sleep."

"It's not fair that you guys can go and sleep and I have to stay here and if I try to sleep you know that's when something's going to happen and I'll either be screaming in pain or there will be someone checking on me and..." Her voice trailed off as she realized neither other person in the room was listening to her. "This is what I get for coming with you, isn't it?"

Sierra, standing up to prevent herself from falling out of the chair again, gave a small nod. "I wouldn't say that it is, but if we were back home and this was happening in that cool place that you had found, with the pool in the room, then we wouldn't be wanting to leave. That place had a couch and a couch would be nice right about now." Her yawning sealed the deal of them leaving, much to the displeasure of the person they were leaving behind, but the actual act of going back to the hotel didn't happen until two contractions, one quick visit by the overnight nurse on the floor, and another argument about staying or going that had the same end.

Naturally, however, once the sun was beginning to peek out over the horizon and early morning light was coming in through the window in the room, that was when it was finally settled that they'd go back for just a few hours of sleep. A ride had already been arranged and after goodbyes and promises that they would return before lunch, like Cody had said way before, they were on their way down to where a shuttle was waiting for them. Or, at least, that had been what the plan was, until someone walked right past them down the hall, headed the way they had just come from, and Sierra, even with how tired she was, noticed who it was. "Um, Codykins, either I'm imagining things, I'm dreaming, or that was Alejandro who just went past us."

"Wait, what?" He turned to look, and simply based on what he could see, it looked like what she had said was indeed true. "You've got to be kidding. How did he know we were here?" He hesitated for a second, looking at Sierra, who shrugged. "We can't just let him go like that if it is him. Come on, let's go see what's up."

They turned back and quickly caught up to the other man, as he wasn't sure where he was going and they knew where they had been. "Hey, Al!" Sierra chirped, getting his attention, and once she had it she made a swing for him, trying to replicate the damage she had done to his face the last time they had met.

"Oh dear, I was not aware that you two were out here," he said as he dodged the fist coming for him. "Surely you know better than to cause a scene out in the open like this."

"We do, but that's not relevant when you shouldn't know where we are!" Having made sure he was really seeing who was before him, Cody reached for his phone to tell Gwen about what was unfolding, but he was stopped when Alejandro pulled his own phone out and held it in front of Cody's face, showing him the copies of every message he had sent Gwen earlier in the night. "How did you get those? I sent those to someone I trust!"

"And she sent them to me, as I am here to do something for her. Is there going to be any more of a problem here, or shall we call Gwen and have her explain the details?" He pocketed his phone once more and began to walk away, trying to find the room that he had been told to go to, but he was quickly stopped by the others grabbing him and preventing him from moving any further. "I can tell that you two really do not want me here, but I can say with complete certainty that I am wanted here by someone."

"Who, yourself?" Cody asked, trying to pull him back, if even a little bit. "Because I know Gwen, and she would never tell you to come here. Ever."

"Except she did, as she was unable to and had no desire to. From what she explained, she was so put off by your disobedience of her one simple request that she did not care that she was sending me to fill a role she had wanted to play. Someone that is not either of you had to be present for this, and that someone is going to be me." He attempted to get his arms out of their grasp, but both of them were holding him so tightly that he couldn't do it and not hurt someone in the process. "Now please, let me continue on so that I can see the woman I love."

Perhaps it was how tired she was, or maybe it was because she remember how much she had tried to help this man in the past, but the last impassioned plea made Sierra let go of the arm she was holding. "I can't stop him, Codykins. He really loves her, and this is so totally the most romantic thing he could do for her."

"Sierra, you're supposed to protect your friends, not help their creepy and controlling exes!" Now holding on to someone much stronger than him, and losing the battle of holding him in one spot, Cody looked to Sierra and gave her the most pleading look he could. "Please, do this for me. Not for anyone else. Help me stop him, so that we're protecting someone who needs it."

"I can't. I just can't!" Her lower lip jutted out and she looked like she was about to cry. "The whole time, through everything, all he's wanted is to love her, and it's just wrong of me to stop him any longer! I shouldn't have pointed out that he was here!" That was when the tears started falling, coupled with apologetic sobs about how much she regretted ever trying to hurt him as well as how much she wished she could have done better on getting him back with who he wanted.

He was starting to drag Cody along as he continued on with his search for the room he needed, although he had listened to what Sierra had said and did appreciate it. "I understand, you wanted to please who you love and that meant hurting me, but everything is okay now! Thanks to all of you, I am getting this chance and I am not going to let it go to waste!" There was happiness in his voice, and when he continued it was clear that he was not going to let anything tear his soaring spirit down. "When I heard that Courtney had attacked Gwen at that meeting we had set up, I never thought that going to apologize for my role in everything would give me the chance to see my precious Heather again, but it did and I am not ruining this like the last chance I had!"

"You had something to do with her getting hurt? Both of you?" Cody looked back to Sierra, and when she nodded and started crying more, it was enough of a surprise and a shock to get him to let go of the arm he was desperately clinging to. "Oh my god, really? You're the reason she got attacked?"

"Not the reason, but I did want her to see Duncan..."

"No, you're kidding!" He fully turned to her, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her a bit. "You're telling me that you're behind her meeting up with someone I hate, and you're behind her getting hurt—" he shook her a bit more, "—and you're still siding with fucking Alejandro over someone who we've been trying to keep from him for months?"

She nodded again, but was unable to find words through her tears, the feelings of her betrayal coming back at her full force. Accepting the truth, that all along, no matter how happy she had been about the baby, she wasn't on the side of the mother at all, wasn't going to make anything easier for her, but it was good for it to be out in the open. Even though it made Cody absolutely speechless and unsure of how to handle the situation except to stand there and just stare at her in disbelief, it was for the best how it happened. Aside from the part where her emotional response was enough of a distraction to let Alejandro slip away and eventually find the place he had been sent that he so badly wanted to be.

The sound of someone opening the door didn't bother Heather, and because she had heard so many people come in and out of it she didn't so much as open her eyes to see who had come in, knowing that they'd soon enough do something to alert her to their identity. She heard the footsteps approach the bed, then the chair move close enough that it was pressed against the bedframe, and finally them sit down in it and grab her hand. "Okay, I finally accepted the fact that you're abandoning me for the night. Don't do this to me."

"Who said I was going to abandon you?" The way he spoke was soft, not wanting to alarm her, but just the sound of his voice made her open her eyes and immediately narrow them in his direction, tugging her hand away from him. "This is where I belong, for this moment."

"How the fuck did you know I was here? I thought I was going to be free of you ever finding me, and now that I know you're here, I'm going to call for someone to get rid of you." Before she got the chance to press the call button for someone to check up on her, he stood up, leaned over her, and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Ew, why are you doing this? You know I hate you."

"If you truly hated me, you would not have let things progress this far, and we are both aware of that. Why would you have ruined yourself for something that you did not want?" He kissed her again, before sitting back down as she muttered something about how wrong he was. "Oh, I am wrong? Tell me, mi amor, how exactly I am wrong."

She became silent for a moment, in which her eyes closed again and she sighed. "You're not wrong. Except you are at the same time. I don't hate you, but I don't love you, but I did love you and that's why we're here. Because I loved you."

"Because you loved me, and I have always loved you, since the first time we angrily flirted with each other on live television." Against her will, he grabbed her hand again and squeezed it tightly, just for her to squeeze it even harder back. "Now please let me remain here and let me be present when the last bond between us makes her presence into this ugly world, and after that I will leave you alone. Just give me this one thing."

It wasn't until a few minutes later that he got a response, the entire time in between spent with his hand nearly being ripped off due it it being squeezed so hard. That response, when it did come, was said in a weak voice, one that was small and so unlike the proud one she had been speaking with not long before. "I'll give you this one thing if you promise you won't leave me alone forever. I don't want to be with you, but I can't lose you. Not after this."

"You are acting much differently than you have the past few months. The last time we spoke, you gave me a moment of tenderness then told me you wanted nothing to do with me at all." His mind went back to that last conversation of theirs, in that hotel room in Vegas. "You gave me what I feared would be my only taste of fatherhood, and then told me that my child, no, our child, would never know me."

"I've done some thinking about that, and even if we aren't together it doesn't mean she should have to suffer because of it. She should know you just as well as she knows me, since you are the reason she's around and all." She weakly laughed. "Or, at least half of the reason."

"Is this me hearing you admit that you do indeed have part in this?" It was a teasing question, one that got another laugh in response. "Wait, that was one of the dumbest things I have ever said. No one could dare deny the fact that you have a very big part in all of this, and I am shamed for so much as suggesting you did not."

She gave his hand a soft squeeze and he winced, as she had already caused it to hurt with how much pressure she had put on it in a short time. "Don't worry about it. I got what you were meaning. Although yeah, it was pretty dumb to think I wasn't involved. I mean," she turned her gaze from him to herself, focusing on her body and how it was covered with a run-of-the-mill hospital gown, "I'm kinda the one in this situation because of what we did. Which, even after everything that's happened, I don't regret suggesting it at all."

"Oh, is that so? Because, if given the chance, I would gladly do that again with you. Complete with you dressing in an old school uniform and talking to me with authority and..." He shook his head. "I should not be letting my mind wander back onto old adventures of ours right now, no matter how relevant they are to why we are here. Those were in a different time in our life, when we were happy and in love."

"More like, it was a different time when you weren't so controlling that you drove me away. If you had stepped back and realized that I have every right to be as dominant as you, then we would've remained in love and there would be no problems." Looking back to him, Heather sighed. "But nope, you ruined everything and figured that you could fix it by trying to force me back with you."

It was a minute or two before Alejandro found the words to reply to that with, and against his better judgment—not to mention what he had been told before he ever left Canada—he reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out that old and familiar ring. "I was warned not to bring this up when I came here, but based on what you have said, I feel it is only fitting that I say it now. I never forced you to be with me, you chose to agree to my proposal, and although you later rejected me because of what I felt was best for us, I still did not give up on you." He held the ring tightly, not wanting to let go of it. "And I never want to give up on you, although you have given up on me."

"Hold on, just a second. You're telling me that you're so lovestruck by me that you're still carrying around that damn ring?" She sounded surprised, her eyes widening as she asked.

"Yes, that is exactly it. That, and the fact that before things went sour between us, we had so many great things planned. We were going to have a grand wedding, going to have a perfect child to raise together, and everything would be okay. But now, all that there will be is that child, and even then she will be split between us." The ring went back into his pocket, as where they were was far from the place to do anything with it. "It is a tragic tale, but it is how it will be."

"You know that, if you hadn't kept trying to force me into agreeing to marry you while I'd still look like a dolled-up pig, maybe we would have still had everything you wanted." It was her turn to shake her head, sad about what she had just said. "Well, more like, everything we wanted."

While there was not much use to him saying what he was about to, Alejandro still felt like he was obligated to say it: "Even if we had decided to go through with that wedding with you in this physical state, you would have been far from looking like a pig. You would have been the beautiful woman who not only holds claim to my heart, but who holds my child as well."

"Ugh, thankfully not for much longer, on that second part," she replied, actually smiling at what he had said. "I can't say I'm looking forward to having to push out a kid that's bound to have your dumb broad shoulders and your big, fat head, but it's going to be worth it." As she had talked, her smile had faded until she was back to a neutral expression. "I think I'm glad you're here. It wouldn't have been fair if you weren't present for her being born."

"If I had not been here, I would have understood. You feel that having her not know me is what is best for her, remember?"

"I've changed my mind about that. I mean, you're capable of having a conversation with me without actively trying to hook back up with me, so maybe you won't be too bad of a father." That was when she started to grab at his hand again, her face having gone from that neutral expression to one of suffering.

By no means was that what segued into the actual childbirth, only being one in what was a day filled with strong contractions like that one, but it followed something that, ever since that night in Vegas where he had first felt the baby kicking, Alejandro had really wanted to hear. He wanted to know that he wouldn't be terrible at something he had resigned himself to not being able to do, no matter how much he had prepared himself to do it. Those particular preparations were something he talked about to pass the time at some point in the early afternoon, after the other two people meant to be present had come back from their rest, both of them unsure of how to act not only around each other but the man in the room with them.

His descriptions of the room, from the pink walls to the pristine white furniture, to all of the little clothing folded up in the dresser, showed his dedication to a child that he, up until earlier that day, thought he wasn't going to see. It was that dedication, coupled with the fact that he was the rightful father to the child, that convinced Heather to let him stay in the room when the time for lots of screaming, yelling, blaming, and pain came around. Throughout it all, even though he was not mentally prepared for what was happening, he was a comforting voice and an even more useful hand to hold.

The last thing he remembered doing before his life changed forever was not simply ignoring the feeling of bones in his hand being crushed. It was getting as close to Heather's face as he could, seeing it all contorted from the pain and suffering she was experiencing, and softly telling her, first in Spanish and then in English so that she would understand, that he was so proud of her, that she was doing great, and that, most of all, he loved her so very much. The last point was what he repeated, in both languages, over and over until it was as if time stood still for a second and everything became silent.

Then a piercing wail, a noise he had never heard in such a setting before, filled the air. That was the last thing he could remember for a few minutes, the next event he could clearly picture in his mind being when one of the doctors who had been present placed a wrapped-up bundle carefully in his love's arms, and he could do nothing but sit there and stare at how unreal what he was seeing was. Just from what he could see, there was no denying that the little girl was his; she had definitely inherited most of his facial features, the lone obvious exception being her mouth, which was a perfect little pout just like her mother's. He was enamored with her and he could only hope that she would love him just as much back, someday.

Right then it wasn't his time to be with her though, and he had to respect that—until she was tilted a bit in his direction and a very tired and worn out voice asked him if he would like to hold her, which he instantly said he did. Holding a baby was something he had dreamed of and never practiced, but once he got her into a position that he felt comfortable with, the amount of love he had felt for this little human before he had gotten to hold her multiplied several times. Being able to look down into her tiny face and see how much like him she looked was an amazing experience, and as she seemed to be asleep at the moment, he wondered if she looked even more like him when awake.

"She's perfect, huh?" It was that worn out voice again, and he drew his eyes away from the baby just long enough to see Heather giving him a weary smile. "We did good, Alejandro. We made something that doesn't look like she's going to kill us anytime soon."

Hearing himself be included made him give her a huge grin in return. "She will never kill anyone, as she will be too good for that. We did excellent with her, mi amor, and I am so, so glad I could be here for this..."

"Shut up and don't get too sappy, and hand her back, will you? I want to hold her again." No matter how exhausted she was, there was no stopping her from being the bossy woman she always had been, and although it saddened him to give her back, he knew it was only fair.

This baby was the only bond holding them together, after all.

"I can't believe how cute she is! Oh my gosh I wish I could have been the first to see her, but I totally understand that others got to do that before me!" Sierra, back in her seat from the night before, had not stopped gushing about the baby since she had gotten to see her, and this particular outburst was maybe the fourth in the past few hours of similar nature. "I'm so thankful someone was taking pictures though!"

"Yeah, you've said that several times now," Cody grumbled, finally starting to reach a breaking point to the squealing and excitement. "Maybe we should go and let you deal with all this excitement elsewhere. I'm sure the new parents would like to get some time to themselves, or maybe just time without you around." She wasn't offended in the slightest about the suggestion and they soon left, but not before promises were made that the only person who wasn't present who got to know was Gwen, who coincidentally was the reason any pictures at all had been taken, as she would most likely want to see them.

Once those two were gone, it was just Heather and Alejandro left alone in the room, silence between the two of them. It was only broken when she sighed, and he asked what was wrong. "Nothing's wrong, not really," she answered, trying not to look at him. "I'm just thinking about how to ask this, that's all."

"Oh, well, I do believe I have something to ask you as well, so would it be of any help if we asked at the same time? Or would that be a problem?" His suggestion worked for her, and after a silent count to three done on their fingers, they simultaneously asked their questions; he was under the impression that she was going to ask him to leave, and she was sure that he was going to attempt to propose to her again, so it came as a surprise to them both when the same words came out of both of their mouths: "Is it okay if we name her Isabel?"

She was first to laugh about the coincidence. "How funny, we both came up with the same name for her. Let me guess, because it's Spanish royalty, right?"

"Exactly that. I assumed you would want to go that route, with how you lovingly referred to her as your princess and all, and I am pleased that my assumption was correct." He laughed as well, but stopped after only a few chuckles escaped. "Alas, did my opinion ever really matter?"

"I wouldn't have asked you if it didn't." That was where their conversation stopped for a while, and the silence returned between them once more. But like before, she was the one who broke it with yet another sigh, followed with, "I don't want to raise her alone."

"You have friends to help you out. I am certain Sierra would be thrilled if you asked her to help."

"I thought I wanted my friends to help with her, but now that we've spent this time together, I've been thinking a bit about maybe..." She trailed off, looking to him while shaking her head. "I can't believe I'm going to suggest this, but maybe we could raise her together. Not be together, but raise her like we were."

It wasn't what he wanted to hear, because he still loved her more than anything and getting back with her was his main goal of ever coming out to Hawaii, but it was something that he wouldn't have had if he hadn't come. "And whatever happens between us while we do this, well, I am sure it would be stronger than whatever a week on vacation did."

"Yeah, something like that." The smile she gave him was genuine, because he had taken her suggestion the way she had hoped. There were still two sides to her, and both the rational and romantic parts wanted to be with him, although for different reasons. The rational side wanted him as a partner in raising their little girl, not in a relationship with him but just together for the sake of giving their baby a real home. But the romantic side, it wanted to get back with him, to take that ring from in his pocket and flaunt it around and eventually get married to him to have a real family life with him. There was no denying that she loved him as much as he loved her, but she couldn't let love be a game to her anymore, and it couldn't be one to him either. There was more to worry about than just being in love, and while there was no stopping whatever would follow, it was clear that to make anything work, things would have to change.

But in the few hours since little Isabel had been born, though, everything already had changed.

A/N: And that's the end. I wish I could say that it was happier, but it's open-ended for a reason. You, the reader, who has followed the journey from the beginning to this point, you get to imagine what happens next. I felt it would be wrong of me to slap an ending that I felt fitting on this, when there's so many ways you could take this in your own mind. So take it how you want. I'd love to hear where you think it should go.

I have to thank my editor-slash-moral support-slash-boyfriend kamikaze2007 for all of his help with this fic, because holy shit he went through so much for the sake of this fic. He was my rock at 3am when I didn't want to write, he listened to me gripe on and on about how writing was going, and he found every missing letter that my keyboard dropped as I was writing. Without him, this wouldn't be as polished as I'm sure it is. (I wouldn't actually know if it's polished-I still haven't read it yet!)

I also have to thank Kristenschaalisahorse for all her reviews and moral support through the writing process! She was there for me when I had character feels, for all my late night text messages about events, and she was as excited as I was when I got to the end of this thing, thus ending the days-long "baby watch" we had started!

Lastly, I just want to thank everyone who will read this note here, because you've taken the time to read a fic that took 86 days (ish) to write, a fic that consumed my life for every day I worked on it. You made my effort worth something, and it means the world to me. Thank you so, so much, and I hope you really enjoyed what you got.