What's a Girl to Do? (Season 2)

Chapter Three: Erase and Rewind

After dropping Ian off at work, I went to the firm and straight to my office after bidding Rachel and Cindy a good morning. I'd gotten an email from Allie, informing me that she and Hugo would be spending the day with Charlotte and that I was free to use her office for the day. I brought the most important things with me into Allie's office, but left one of the copies of my ultrasound photo on my desk, to decide where to put it later. Almost as soon as I'd sat down at Allie's desk, Nicholas texted me to remind me that we had a scheduled video conference call with Judge Whitmore in an hour, and that Jasmine would be on her way shortly to prepare with us and to take part in it.

I let Nicholas know that I was there and in his mother's office before I reached into my purse and pulled out my notes, written over the weekend in anticipation of the conference call. It was today that Judge Whitmore would let us know if Jasmine's appeal for sanctuary had gone through in a successful manner, and then would come the final verdict on sentencing for Johnny. Johnny and his attorney then would be patched through, and Judge Whitmore would let us know when that would be, so as we could move Jasmine to a more secure location so as she wouldn't have to see or hear Johnny. I gave a cursory glance to my notes before I returned them to my file folder and got to my feet, grabbing my cell phone as well before leaving Allie's office and walking down the hallway to the conference room.

"Good morning," I said breezily to Nicholas, who was already there, chewing on a granola bar and sipping some coffee. "Good weekend?"

"Fine," he replied shortly. "Yours?"

"Good, thanks." I walked up to the food table which had already been set up, taking an oatmeal cookie, which normally I didn't like but knew it would be better for the baby. I poured myself a cup of tea and made my way to the other side of the table to sit beside Nicholas. "You're awfully chatty this morning," I put in, setting down my notes and sitting beside him.

He shrugged. "The office is rife with gossip."

I blinked, shaking my head at his insinuation as I opened up my file folder and looked over my notes before taking a bite of my cookie, which truly tasted awful, but I somehow managed to force it down anyway. "Meaning?" I asked.

He sighed, his shoulders slacking a bit as he leaned back against his chair. "When were you going to tell me that people in the office think the baby is mine?"

"Goddammit are they still saying that?!" I cried out, and Nicholas held up his hands in a surrendering gesture at my sudden outburst, which could be interpreted as being completely directed at him, although it really wasn't, to come to the point. "Rachel and Cindy said they would put a stop to it..."

"Well, either they didn't, or they didn't do a good job of trying."

I rolled my eyes. "God, what does it matter?" I said, annoyance peppering my tone as I attempted to consider it from his point of view. "I mean, it's not like you are the father—you couldn't be the father, Nicholas, and you know it. The condoms we used when we were together never broke and they weren't expired. Besides, the conception dates they gave me was a full two weeks before first started sleeping together. Trust me—there's no way that you're the father, and you're just going to have to believe that."

Nicholas sighed, his tone slightly testy. "I do believe that, Murphy—I'm just sick and tired of being gossiped about."

I nodded. "I can understand that... We'll discuss this with your parents when they come back and we'll figure it out together."

Nicholas shook his head. "I don't think they should know about this."

"Why? Your mom knows..."

"Did you fucking tell her?" Nicholas asks, his voice stiff.