A/N: I know that this chapter is very short. It's basically a test chapter to see if anyone's going to read. If I receive any indication that there's people interested in seeing more posted, I'll go ahead and keep updating.

Chapter 1: Confession

The words slipped so easily from her lips, the confession that she had been dying to make to him for the past year. Until a few months ago it had been guilt that had been pressing her to say something, now in the heat of the argument it was anger that finally pushed the spiteful phrase from her mouth.

"He's not even your son!"

A stunned silence lingered in the air between the two, him not even sure if he could believe the news and she regretting that she had said anything. Either way, they stood there on opposite sides of the couch in the dimly lit living room. She had just stumbled in from her night of driving around town.

Only a few hours earlier she had fallen down the stairs and embarrassed Burt. All she had hoped for upon her return was to be able to slip into bed and pretend none of this happened.

Burt stood there, still in his suit. As much as he had been upset with Mary, the announcement broke his heart. He fidgeted for a second, shifting his weight between each leg as he went from crossing his arms to placing his hands on his hips to covering his mouth with one hand.

"What uh, wh-what is it that you're trying to say here, Mary?" He asked.

Mary remained rigid, her lips pursed as she glared to him. She might not have liked how he found out, and she might have even felt a tiny bit bad about the whole thing. No matter what, she had still been shoved aside for the sake of good publicity. After everything she had done for him, after all that time that she had stood beside him, he swept her aside as if she were nothing. That would always hurt.

"You know exactly what I said," she venomously spat. "I thought he was you at the time. You know that."

He couldn't be mad at her for that. He wanted to, he wanted to ask her how she could do that to him. She didn't know any better at the time. It was just so much to take in all at once. The only baby that they would have together and it wasn't even his, it was the consequence of his getting taken away from her.

There was a small chance that she was making up all of this just to upset him. And he was pretty sure that he could smell the liquor on her.

"I'm not going to discuss this with you right now," he stated as he started towards the stairs. "You've been drinking. This is something that we need to talk about when you're sober."

Mary hurried and stood at the bottom of the stairs, her motion stopping Burt as he was halfway to the second floor.

"You'd better not wait too long. It'd be a real shame if somehow the press found out and you didn't have prepared answers to give them," she remarked.

"Are you blackmailing me?" He inquired, disgusted at her.

"I'm just trying to figure out whether it's your family or your reputation that you care about more. And I think I've gotten my answer," she sourly told him.

Burt stood there, stumbling to find something to say as she stormed passed him up the stairs. "Mary!" He called as he completely turned around, his eyes glued to her.

"I'm going to bed. I suggest you sleep on the couch facing the doorway. That way you'll be able to see if one of us is about to leave the house and embarrass you," she retorted.