Taking Chances (WILL EDIT LATER)

Chapter Twenty Four.

Sitting in his darkened hotel room with a glass of whiskey on the rocks in hand, Taron looked through various videos and images on his phone. Some were of Mikey, some were of his family and some were of just him and Nicola when they were together. He could see the sparkle in her eyes as they looked at each other, dancing under the stars. The kids having slept over at his mum's. He remembered the sound of Nicola's laughter as he kept taking her picture. He also recalled the love he felt for her and the overwhelming sense of comfort he had being in her presence. He really missed how happy life was but now, everything was damaged and he knew that he only had himself to blame.

Taron wanted so badly to believe that this baby was his but thanks to his mother giving him the cold shoulder, he had turned to his biological father David (A/N: not to be mistaken for Kate's father Dave. There are two Davids.) for advice. His father had told him that Nicola probably wanted her fifteen minutes of fame and Taron was dumb enough to believe that Nicola would do that to him, even if he knew deep down that she would never do something as demented as that. He was beyond lost at this point and didn't know where to turn.

Taron -who had taken the baby journal with him- turned to the recent ultrasound picture of the baby and ran his fingers over it. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine himself with two kids. Teaching the baby to walk, talk and sing. Reading to Mikey and the baby etc. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. His father had to be right, Nicola was a liar.

Being so wrapped up in his thoughts, Taron didn't hear the initial knocks on his hotel room door.

"Taron, I know you're in there." Richard said from the other side. Taron glanced at it and debated whether or not he wanted to see anyone. He decided to let his friend in.

"You left in a hurry. Is everything alright?" The Scotsman asked. Taron didn't say anything and let his head hang low. He handed Richard the ultrasound picture and sighed.

"She's pregnant." Taron said simply. Richard was slightly confused.

"Who is?" He asked. Taron looked at him and the expression on Taron's face told him all he needed to know.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Richard questioned.

"Can we not talk about this." Taron said, skirting the issue and grabbing his wallet before finishing his glass. Richard looked between the Welshman and the baby picture. Richard could tell that his friend was having a violent war within himself and didn't know how to escape it. He dropped the subject and made sure to keep an eye on Taron to make sure that he didn't do anything stupid while they were out.

=

For the duration of the night, Taron flirted with anything in sight. He had downed so much alcohol, more than Richard had ever seen anyway. This wasn't Taron and even Elton -who was on set earlier that day- knew that something wasn't right.

"Is Taron alright?" Dex asked with concern for his colleague and friend. Richard shook his head.

Richard knew full well that Taron would be angry with him for telling everyone his business. Richard also knew that if he wanted Taron to heal, at least Dex had a right to know.

"For right now, all you need to know is that he's going to keep screwing up his life if we don't get him back to his room while he's still conscious." Richard said. Dex nodded. The men stood up and made their way over to where Taron was attempting and failing at flirting with a bar stool.

"She won't talk." Taron whined, spotting Richard and Dexter. Dex wanted to laugh but given the circumstances, he decided against it.

"That's a stool, mate." Richard replied. Taron's eyes drooped sadly.