Problems (Sequel To Bad Blood)

Splitting the Nation

I sat on the couch in my apartment, staring at the clock nervously. I had to go to work in half an hour... and I was terrified.
"Hey," Thomas said sitting next to me. "Are you sure you want to go to work today?"
"No.. but I have to. At least this time my boss isn't a crazy psychopath... I hope." He smiled and hugged me.
"I just want you to stay safe... you and the baby."
"I know, and I will be. You've taught me well." He pulled back and smiled at me.
"Well, it's a good thing you learn fast." I smiled and kissed him softly before glancing at the clock again.
"I should get going... I don't want to be late."
"I'll drive you," he said standing up and grabbing his keys.
"You don't have to."
"Yes, I do. Now come on," he said pulling me up. I laughed slightly and walked out with him. He drove me to work, looking around nervously.
"Hey, everything is going to be 100% fine," I said as we pulled up to the coffee shop.
"Yeah, yeah. Of course it is..." he said still staring out the window. I reached over and grabbed his hand. He quickly looked over at me.
"Hey, listen to me. Nothing is going to happen. Do you understand?" He smiled slightly and looked down before nodding in response. "Good." I smiled and made him look up at me before kissing him and getting out of the car.
"I love you," he said as I pulled my bag over my shoulder. I smiled at him.
"I love you too." I closed the door and ran into work, seeing the place was nearly empty. "Hey, Britt," I said putting my bag behind the bar.
"Hey," she said. "Hey, are you okay? You seem... upset."
"I'm not upset, I'm just feeling a little sick," I said sitting down on a stool.
"Sick? Why are you sick?"
"Oh... uhm. I'm not sure."
"You should go to the doctor or something."
"Yeah, maybe."
"What are your symptoms?"
"I'm fine, Britt. Really."
"Oh come on, my dad was a doctor, he taught me a thing or two, what are your symptoms?" I sighed and sat back.
"I'm nauseous all the time, I'm tired all the time..."
"It sounds like you're pregnant or something..." I just looked down. "No way... are you pregnant?!" She asked rather loudly.
"Shh! You can't tell anyone, not even my brother knows..."
"Does Thomas know?"
"Yeah.. but, he seems really freaked out by it, and I can't really talk to anyone about it because there's just so much going on right now..."
"Like?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"That's not true, now is it?"
"Well, it isn't really something I can talk about... it's all just really complicated and sucky..."
"Okay... well, I'm going to go see if any of these guys need refills," she said picking up the coffeepot and walking over to the 3 people in the shop. I looked over and caught a glance of one of the guys. He looked at me and quickly hid his face. I groaned and walked over, sitting infrint of him.
"Did my brother send you to check up on me?" I asked. Will sighed and looked up.
"No. Not your brother, Thomas asked me to keep an eye on you for the day..." I groaned slightly.
"I'm fine. I promise."
"I know why he insisted I keep an eye on you, you're pregnant?" I rolled my eyes.
"Yes, alright? You can't tell anyone else, alright? Promise me."
"Alright, I promise, but you need to tell your brother... soon."
"I'll tell him when the time is right.. but for now its just our secret."
"Who all knows?"
"Grant, Thomas, and Ava. They're the only onesn and it's going to stay that way for as long as possible."
"Okay... fine, but I hate lying to Dylan, I hope you know."
"Don't think of it as lying, think of it as avoiding a certain truth... now I have to get back to work, you can feel free to leave at anytime, I'm fine, I promise. You can tell Thomas that as well." I stood up and walked back behind the counter.
"Who's that?" Britt asked.
"Just an old friend," I said, sitting on the stool.

The rest of the day went by incredibly slow. Finally I got off and locked up the shop, seeing my brother's car. I sighed and walked over, hopping in.
"Hey, how was work?" He asked.
"Fine..." I said, leaning back. "It woupd have been better if I didn't have to look over my shoulder every minute..."
"Well, you're still alive, that's a good sign..." I smiled as he drove us to the apartments.
"Has anyone showed up yet?" I asked.
"Not that I've heard, but I just got off of work, so they might be.." I just nodded in response, looking out the window.
"I hope they are..." I whispered. We pulled up to the apartment and I quickly got out of the car, heading up the stairs to my floor. I pulled my keys out of my pocket and fumbled around with them, trying to get the right one, when the door opened. Thomas stood infront of me, he smiled sweetly.
"Hey," I said.
"Hi.." he replied.
"Are they-?"
"Yeah. Well, some of them, come on," he grabbed my hand and led me inside. We walked into the living room and I saw Luke staring out the window, Cayla and Brendon were sitting on the couch, and Sara was staring awkwardly at Cayla. Luke turned and looked at me, smiling softly. Brendon stood up and walked over to me.
"Hey," he said. "How are you holding up?"
"I'm um.. I'm fine," I said. "How are you?" He glanced over at Sara who was now just staring at the floor, no emotion on her face.
"I've been much better," he said not looking away from his wife.
"What happened?" Thomas asked.
"They took her... again... our daughter... our Grace." He sighed and looked down. "Who takes a 16 year old girl?"
"Hey, Brendon, we'll find her... we always find our people, don't we?" Thomas said, putting his hand on Brendon's shoulder.
"But we always lose people too..." the door opened and Dylan walked in with Ava and Grant.
"Oh good, you made it," Dylan said smiling. "Any news on the other two?"
"Not yet," Thomas replied. "But they should be here soon... unless-" he was cut off by a knock at the door. I quickly walked over and opened it, feeling realived when I saw the 3 boys infront of me. Will was with Robbie and Calum.
"What'd we miss?" Calum asked as they walked in. I smiled and stepped aside as they walked in, hugging their old teammates. The last time I really saw any of these guys was, well... when I went all psycho and put a bullet in Depp's brain... it honestly seemed like forever ago.
"So, what's the plan? You know, now that absolutely none of us are on the inside and so we have no idea what these psycho bitches really want," Calum said.
"Didn't you hear, they want us all dead, moron," Luke replied, standing next to his old best friend. They always seemed closest to eachother.
"Yes, that's what Nicky said, but since when dies he ever tell us the truth? I mean, this whole thing could be a distraction from the bigger picture," Grant retorted.
"The bigger picture? Like what?"
"Well, I don't know, maybe they want to take over England and they think we can stop them so they need a distraction."
"Yeah, a distraction by killing us all," Will responded.
"Actually, Grant has a point," Cayla said standing up. "You guys forget, I worked with these people since I was a little girl."
"Oh trust me, we don't forget," Ava mumbled under her breath from beside me.
"I know all of their tricks, and this seems like exactly the kind of thing Nick would do..." they continued to discuss and argue, reminding me of the old meeting, but I couldn't concentrate. A sudden whoosh of nausea and fatigue ran through me and I had to grip onto Thomas for balance.
"Are you alright?" He whispered to me.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied, noticing I had my other hand on my stomach. I looked up and saw Grant staring at me.
"You need to sit down," Thomas said, leading me over to the empty recliner. When I sat down, he kneeled next to me, holding my hand. "You're not going to throw up or anything, are you?"
"No no, I'm fine."
"Caitlyn, are you alright?" Robbie asked, causing everyone to look over at me.
"What? Yeah. I'm great," I lied as I fought my insides.
"You look a little flushed, are you sure? Grant, you're a doctor," Sara said.
"What, oh uhm yes, I am a doctor... she looks perfectly fine to me?" He said awkwardly.
"It's probably just morning sick- I mean... uhm," Will said. I looked over and glared at him.
"Wait... morning sickness?" Dylan asked. "Why the hell would she have morning sickness?"
"That's not what I said..."
"Are you pregnant?" Dylan asked looking right at me. Everyone went silent. I couldn't fight it anymore. I stood up and ran to the bathroom, slamming the door shut and just barely making it to the toilet before throwing up. I was shaking uncontrollably. I sighed and put my head in my hands. I geard the bathroom door open and didn't even bother to look up. I felt someone sit next to me and put a hand on my thigh.
"Are you okay?" Thomas asked sweetly. I looked up at him slightly.
"What are we going to do?" I whispered. "I can barely hold myself together, and they're right, we have literally no idea what Nick is really planning. I just don't have any idea what the hell we're supposed to do..." suddenly tears were just rolling down my face and he pulled me into a tight hug.
"We're going to do what we've always done. We're going to survive. Somehow, we always find a way... I'm not going to let anything happen to you or our baby, do you understand me?" I just nodded in response, wiping tears for my now very wet cheeks.
"Oh no..." I said.
"What?" I leaned over the toilet, puking again, Thomas quickly pulled my hair back and rubbed my back gently. And for some reason, I felt like everything was going to be okay again...