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“Eric. You came.”
Donna looked up in surprise. His dark figure in the door frame, lean and almost glowing with the bright hallway lights behind him. She was still half asleep, brain hazy and muddled, cheeks tear-strewn and puffy, but she reached for him like a life raft.
“Of course I did.”
In seconds, he was there. He sat on the bed next to her, and cupped her chin. Donna closed her eyes at the touch, hating herself for how much she needed him. Like a labrador who’d missed her favorite human.
“Donna - ” he swallowed. Up close now, she could see that his eyes were glassy. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he choked.
She closed her eyes again, tighter, and a tear squeezed loose. “I - I didn’t know how,” she whispered, helplessly.
He took in a shaky breath, and released it slow. She knew he didn’t understand. They’d always told each other everything. But -
“Eric, you - you left,” she reminded him. She brushed her tear away, roughly. Sitting up now, her fiery defiance returning. He wasn’t the victim here.
Eric’s brow furrowed. “You didn’t think I’d come back for this?”
“I don’t want to be your consolation prize.” She muttered it so softly, she wasn’t sure if he heard. But he did.
“Consolation prize?” He chuckled but it was hollow. Humorless. “Donna you’re not - ” he stood up suddenly and started to pace, leafing a hand through his hair with frantic energy. She watched him wearily, until a few moments later he froze. Turned around to look at her with those same wounded eyes. “That’s what you really think?” his voice cracked emotionally.
“It’s what I’m scared of,” she admitted, in a small voice.
He stood staring at her for a long moment - so long she wasn’t sure if he was about to leave.
But he returned to the bed. Sat next to her, tenderly pushed some of the hair out of her eyes, tucked it behind her ear. Like he loved her. She wanted to believe that he still did.
“I fucked it all up, didn’t I?” he asked her quietly. He gave her a regretful, wistful smile. “Like I always do.”
“I think we both fucked it up this time.”
“We’re just a couple of goons, huh?”
Donna’s breath caught in her throat.
“Havin’ a baby,” he finished quietly. He reached forward, and gently set his hand over the small swell of her stomach. Their eyes met, and that familiar jolt of electricity ran down her spine, settled in the bottom of her belly. Like butterflies. Or baby kicks.
“Eric. What happens now?” she whispered.
“Our forever,” he whispered back, tenderly caressing her cheek. "It's the only thing I've ever wanted."