Do It Again

Chapter 1

"Rocky, you're Rose's father." I held on tight to Rocky's hand.

His face was pale. He didn't know what to say. I don't think he really expected it to be true.

"How are we gonna tell Riker?" Rocky asked. "You burned the tests. The proof is gone!"

"Riker doesn't have to know. No one does."

He dropped my hand. "Doesn't have to know? He has to know. We have to tell him!"

"It would break his heart!" I cried. "I can't do that to him!"

"You can't lie to him either. He deserves to know the truth."

"He can't."

"He has to."

I wiped my eyes. "What do you think he'll do?"

Rocky sighed. "He probably won't be too happy and he'll want proof. You burned it though so I'll have to get another test done."

"I don't want you to get another test."

"Then I'll call and see if they can just send a new copy."

"How are we gonna tell him?"

He pulled me into his arms. "Let's get a new copy of the tests first, then we'll worry about it."

"I'm tired." I yawned and leaned into his chest.

"Let's get you back to bed." He kissed he top of my head.

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I woke up the next morning with mixed emotions. On one hand, I was happy Rocky was actually Rose's father. On the other, I didn't want Riker to find out. It would absolutely kill him.

"How'd you sleep?" Rocky rolled over and kissed my cheek.

"Not good." I covered my head with my pillow. "I feel like I need to fall back to sleep and never wake up."

"Don't do that. We just got back together." He laughed.

"It's not funny!" I argued. "I can't tell Riker. I can't hurt him like that."

He sighed. "You don't have to tell him until we get the new tests."

"I'm not gonna be able to be around him without feeling like complete shit."

"It's not your fault. Don't do that to yourself. The hospital must have mixed something up when they did them the first time."

"How do you explain to someone, who has been believing for almost four months now that they have had a kid, that it was a mistake and the child isn't theirs?"

"Ashley." He rolled on top of me. "Don't blame yourself. Don't put yourself down. I can't lose you. He will eventually get over it."

"Cause that worked for Ross, right? He got over me so easily."

"Ross and Riker are different. I'm sure Ross will understand sooner or later that you aren't going to be together. Riker will figure out how to deal with it too."

"Riker is still fighting for me."

"Not while I'm here he won't be."

I rolled out from underneath Rocky to tease him. "What about Blake?"

He gave me a suspicious look. "What about Blake?"

"If you don't trust me around your own brothers, how are you going to trust me around him?"

He propped himself up on his arm. "I trust you around Riker and Ross, I even trust you around Ryland. You have proven to me that I can. Ellington told me about when Riker wanted to have sex with you and you lied to him because we were dating."