by Stephanie Meyer I don't own them. I don't claim to. for amusement only. I apologize to Dennis fans.
I think he's cool too, but some character had to say it.
 

Diane looked up from where she was perched on the edge of the hospital bed expecting to see Billy.
Instead it was the doctor who had been treating her. "Ms. Grad?"

Diane was quiet when Phillip entered her room. "Diane?"

Diane looked up. "Where's Billy?"

"He got called into emergency surgery." Phillip's tone was gentle. "I'm going to take you to the hospital,
OK?"

She nodded. "Phillip, can I tell you something?"

"Of course."

"I'm pregnant."

"Diane..."

"Phillip, what am I going to do?" She began to cry. Phillip gently hugged her.

"You'll get through this, Diane. We'll be here to help you. Me, Billy, Dennis, Danny, Aaron, Kate. We
won't let you go through this alone."
 

Diane was sleeping when Billy checked on her. He was sorry he hadn't been able to go get her at
county, but Phillip had assured him that he would take care of it. Billy crashed on the chair by her bed.

Diane woke up to find Billy crashed in her room. He awoke when he heard her roll over.

"Hey." He smoothed her hair away from her face. "How you doing?"

She smiled weakly. "I've been better."

"Yeah," he rested his hand on her cheek. "You feel good enough to talk to the cops?"

"You already called them?"

"No, Phillip did. He's pissed."

"At me?"

"NO. At your boyfriend, at me, at himself."

"At you?"

"Not good to have one of your surgeons arrested for battery."

"I'll talk to them."

"Now?"

"Might as well."
 

Diane was talking to the police when Billy was paged. He was just heading back to her room when
Phillip stopped him in the hallway.

"Billy."

"Yeah, Phillip?"

"I need to talk to you for a second. Diane has something she wanted me to tell you because she was
afraid to."

"What?"

"She's pregnant, Billy."

Billy blinked. "Why was she scared to tell me that?"

"Look, Billy, I don't know what happened between you two, but she's still in love with you."

"What?"

"She's scared and she's pregnant. She's afraid that you'll leave her."

"I will always be there for her, Phillip."

"Tell her that."
 

Billy was sitting on her bed. "Diane, Phillip told me."

"Are you mad?"

"At you? Of course not! Why would I be? I'm mad at Paul for doing this," he gestured to her injures,
"to you. I'm mad that I didn't see what was happening earlier, and stop it. I'm mad that this happened
to you and .."

"And what, Billy?"

"I'm mad that it's not my baby."

She wrapped her arms around him and buried her head in his chest. "I'm sorry. I was so stupid."

"It wasn't your fault. I started the whole stupid mess."

"Billy, no. Let's not blame ourselves. Let's just be."
 

Billy was heading up to Diane's room after his shift. He saw the nurses gathered around the entrance to
her room and the crash cart stationed there. Dennis met him in the hallway.

"What happened?"

"She miscarried. With what her body's been through, it's no surprise."

"How is she?"

"She's not screaming, but she's not crying either."

Billy hustled into her room. Dennis watched him go. Perhaps he'd misjudged their relationship.

Diane nestled herself in Billy's arms. "I was actually beginning to get used to the idea. I wasn't going to
get rid of it, Billy. I was going to keep it. But it knew. It knew what a horrible person I was and it
chose to die."

"Diane, it wasn't you fault. Your body's been traumatized." Billy held her while she cried.
 

Several days later, Dennis approached Billy. "Billy, I want to apologize."

"For what?"

"For what I said about you and Diane."

"Forget about it."

"How's she doing?"

"She's still tired. Between the beating and the baby, she's emotionally and physically drained."

"Don't forget the blood loss."

"Blood loss? She was only a few weeks, how much blood loss could there have been?"

"A few weeks? She at least two months along, probably more. I'd guess almost three."

Dennis walked away leaving a stunned Billy behind him.
 

Diane was mindlessly watching TV when Billy got home. "Hey."

"Hey." Billy switched off the TV and approached her. "Diane, we need to talk."

"About what?"

"I know this is going to be painful, but we need to talk about your miscarriage."

"Billy.."

"Diane, listen to me. How far along do you think you were?"

"A couple of weeks. It was, well, the first time...without..."

Billy held her face in his hands. "OK, Diane, I know. But before that, the last time was us, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

He measured his words carefully. He didn't want her to be hurt again. "Diane, Dennis said you weren't
a few weeks pregnant. He said that you were a few months pregnant. Almost three."

Diane's lips began to tremble. "You mean, I was... all that time... I thought it was stress. Oh god, I lost
our baby, Billy! I lost our baby! I'm so sorry! I never would have... if I'd known...oh , Billy, I'm sorry,
I'm sorry...."

Billy wrapped her in his arms. "Shh. You didn't know, Diane. We were safe."

"I should have paid more attention! I should have known! I killed it!"

"Shh. It's not your fault. It's not your fault." Billy rocked her while she cried.
 

Billy watched her sleep wrapped in his arms. Why had he told her about the baby? She was upset
enough already. He had had to know. The thought of what had happened made him realize how much
he loved her, that he wanted to always be with her, to share all the joy and the pain. He wanted to
marry her, but he was afraid to ask her. She was so fragile right now. How would she handle it?

Diane sat on Billy's double bed watching him get dressed. It had been a week since he had told her
about the baby. She still wasn't ready to go back to work, but Billy couldn't take anymore time off.

"Are you sure you're going to be OK?"

"Of course."

"You page me if you need me."

"Billy, I'll be fine. Go to work."

He kissed hr. "Love you."

"Love you too." Diane watched him leave. When she heard the door slam shut, she let her tears fall. He
was being so kind to her when he really must hate her. She had wanted her baby to be his. It had been
and because of her own stupidity, it had died. How could she have been so stupid? She knew it was
possible to menstruate the first month because of timing. She must have been pregnant before the trial.
She thought she'd been irregular because of the stress of her break up with Billy and the loss of her
research. They'd been careful, but still, it wasn't a hundred percent effective. She should have noticed
it. She never would have stayed with Paul if she'd known. She was amazed she carried the baby as
long as she had. She hated herself. She also knew that it was only a matter of time before Billy hated
her too. She couldn't stand that. She had to leave now. She could run away to Africa again, or she
could run away for good.

Billy had told her that suicide was running away. He was right. She was running away. But not here.
She wouldn't do it here. She wouldn't do that to him. She would jump. Into the lake. If she was
bleeding at the time, it would expedite the process, and if someone pulled her out, the infection she'd
get from the lake water in an open wound would probably do her in.

She began to search through drawers. In the bookshelf she found a box. A small velvet jewelry box.
She opened it. It was simple. It was beautiful. It was an engagement ring. She took it out of the box. It
was engraved. It simply said, 'To Diane, love Billy.' She bit her lip. He wanted to marry her? Why?
 

Billy hung up the phone in disgust. It was the third time he had tried to call Diane. He was worried. He
shouldn't have left her alone. God knows what she'd do. He checked his voice mail in case she'd called
his office while he'd been in surgery. There was a message.

He met her at the end of the Navy pier. She heard him stop behind her. He was so close she could feel
the heat of his body even though they weren't touching.

"I was going to jump."

"What!?"

"Into the lake. I had decided to jump. I was going to slit my wrists up the arms and jump into the lake."

"Diane," Billy's arms wrapped around her waist in an iron grip as if her was afraid she would jump
now.

"Then I found it."

"Found what?"

"The ring."

"Oh."

"Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes, I'll marry you. I won't promise it will be happy, Billy. I need help. If you still want me..."

"Diane, you are the only thing I want."
 

Despite what she had said to Billy, Diane didn't get help. She went to the therapy and gave all the right
answers, but it wasn't any good. She was heading for a crisis. But this time, the crisis was a call for
help instead of an earnest with to die.

Keith Wilkes looked up as the paramedic rolled the gurney into the ER. "What do you got?

"Jumper. Guy who pulled her out said she jumped but then stared to swim to shore but wasn't going to
make it. She's unconscious, but breathing on her own. Temp's ninety."

"We'll take her from here."

One of the nurses brushed the woman's matted hair out of her face. "Dr. Wilkes?"

Wilkes looked down. "Jesus Christ. All right people. This doesn't change our job. Somebody call
upstairs and see if Billy's out of surgery. If he is, page him."

Billy strode into the ER. "Who paged me?"

A nurse gestured to Keith, who was signing a chart.

"You paged me?"

Wilkes looked up. "Billy. We need to talk. "

Diane was warm and dry. And sleepy. Very sleepy. But she wanted to stay awake until Billy came.

"Diane, what the hell were you thinking?!" Billy's angry words were soften by his worried tone. He
stopped beside her bed, planted his hands on either side of her, and glared.

"Not much. Can I explain?"

"Please do."

"I don't know why I jumped but as soon as I did I realized that I didn't want to die. It was stupid. I
was stupid. I wanted to see you again. So I started to swim once I hit the water. Only I forgot one
thing."

"What's that?"

"I'm a horrible swimmer."

Billy rested his forehead against her. "Promise me that you'll never do that again or anything like it."

"On one condition."

"What?"

"Teach me how to swim."

He kissed her.