i apologize in advance for the contents of this chapter... jilli stans will be happy, but sam and bella stans... well, you'll see ;)
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A week later, I found myself holding Lilli's hand as a doctor took her blood. She still hadn't told Jake because she wanted to be sure that the baby was his, so here we were, getting my apparently one-month pregnant best friend a paternity test.
"Sam promised he'd be here," Lilli whispered as her leg shook in nervousness.
"He'll be here," I assured. In all honesty, I didn't know if Sam would show. He had been pretty absent the entire week, only texting me when I texted him, and moving the supposed day of our date more than once. I had no fucking clue what was happening, but he promised he'd be here, and I was holding him to that. He was the first one, aside from me, to find out about Lilli's pregnancy, and he had a way about him that calmed her down. Maybe it was the sense of home she found in him or his factual ways, but regardless, I expected him to be here.
"Miss Dempt?" Doctor Yolkowskie asked.
Lilli shot her head up, her anxious eyes scanning the doctor's face for any kind of answer.
"Could you join me in here for a moment?"
Lilli hesitated.
"Miss Ashford can join us if you'd like," she chuckled. The two of us stood up and followed the doctor into his office.
"Please take a seat."
We did as we were told.
"Alright, I have good news and potentially bad news. Which would you like first?"
"Good," we said at the same time.
She chuckled, handing us an ultrasound.
"This is your baby. They are perfectly healthy and unaffected by anything you did when you were unaware. As of right now, the pregnancy is going perfectly."
The two of us stared at the ultra-sound, completely in awe of the tiny bean that would soon be her child. I looked at her with tears in my eyes, hugging her.
"What'd I miss?" I heard a voice say from the door.
"You made it!" Lilli exclaimed as Sam took a seat next to her.
"I wouldn't miss this for the world, especially when my two favorite ladies are involved," he chuckled, looking at me with remorse in his eyes. I ignored his stare, looking back at the doctor.
"And the bad news?" I questioned, holding Lilli's hand a little tighter.
"Well, the blood test performed on Anthony McCrae came back as negative, meaning that he is not the father," she sighed, unsure as to whether or not it was good or bad news.
I looked to Lilli to see her crying, her hand delicately placed over her mouth.
"Sam?" she said, turning to him, "Is Jake going to be mad?"
Sam grabbed her hands, holding her close to him. "God, no. Lilli, that man has wanted children since he was old enough to understand the concept of reproduction," he laughed, "But you need to tell him soon, so he doesn't find out from anyone else, okay?"
She nodded, hugging him as tears of joy slid down her cheeks.
"I'm so happy for you, baby," I said, crying as well as I rubbed her back, "You're going to be a mom!"
"You're going to be an aunt!" she replied in full-fledged hysterics.
"Bella, we better be the coolest Aunt and Uncle ever," Sam said, smiling at me.
"You're going to be," Lilli smiled, grabbing her stuff and heading towards the door, "I've got to go talk to my baby daddy, but thank you both for being here. I love you guys."
"I'll leave this here with you two then. You all are going to make an amazing family for that baby, I can tell," Doctor Yolkowskie said, sliding the ultrasound over to us.
"Are you two looking to start a family anytime soon?" She further questioned.
I felt my cheeks burn as we both nervously laughed.
"No, we're not... together. Sam here is the baby daddy's brother, and Lilli is my best friend," I explained. She chuckled and grabbed her stuff, walking towards the door.
"My apologies. You two have a good day, I'm sure I'll see you both again," she said as we gathered our stuff and followed her out. Sam and I walked to my car in silence as I stared at the ultrasound between my hands.
"They're going to be amazing parents," Sam blurted. I nodded, not really wanting to cry again. He grabbed my arm gently, stopping me in my place.
"What's going on? Are you mad at me?" he asked, exploring my eyes.
"A bit," I admitted, even if that wasn't the reason I was being passive.
He shifted, his expression shifting from anger to confusion as he chewed his lip.
"Why?"
"You've hardly talked to me all week, you keep changing our date plans, and you were fucking late on the most important day of Lilli, and your god damned brothers, life," I quipped.
He sighed, defeat evident in his body.
"You're right. I'm sorry."
I waited a moment, expecting something more. An explanation, maybe. Even a simple hug would've done the trick, but he stayed still in his stance, looking at me for some sort of cue.
"That's it, then? No explanation? No 'I'm so sorry, Bella, let me take you out tonight?'" I exclaimed, letting anger grip me with firey hands.
"Jesus, Bel. I fucking apologized. What happened to 'think before you get angry,' hm?" he hissed, "I've been busy with PR shit, okay? I got caught up with old tour stuff, and then I ran into Santana who I haven't seen in months so I moved our date, and-"
"Santana? Like your ex?" I asked, shock hitting me like a ton of bricks to the face.
"Yeah, she- she was in town so we went out for dinner," he sighed, shame filling his voice.
"Right, so you ditched me for your supermodel ex-girlfriend? Fucking hell, Sam," I scoffed, continuing to walk to my car.
"It's not fucking like that, Bel. I just ha-"
"Haven't what? Seen her in a long time, or fucked her in a long time?" I yelled, turning around.
"No, I-"
"Did you fuck her?" I whispered as he caught up to me.
"What?" he mumbled, his face nearly answering my question.
"Did you fuck her?" I stated more than asked. He sighed, avoiding my eyes as he rubbed his face.
"Got it," I whimpered, "Maybe we were better off when you were miles across the country."
"Bel, it- it wasn't like that, though."
"But it was, wasn't it? Cause' you made the decision to fuck her, you made the decision to ditch me, and you made the decision to treat me like shit after you fucked up again!" I yelled from the other side of my car.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled in defeat.
"Yeah, I've heard that before," I dryly laughed, opening my car door, "Go home, Sam. Be with your brother instead of between Santana's legs. Do the right fucking thing for once." I
got in my car and immediately turned it on, driving away as fast as I could as tears ran down my face.
In my rearview mirror, I could see Sam. He was small, defeated; I almost felt bad. but I couldn't let remorse hold me, not when I know what he did with Santana, and not when I knew that, with Lilli's baby, he'd be in my life for as long as I used to hope.
He promised me he wouldn't fuck it up again.
He promised me he'd always be there.
But he wasn't.