by: Stephanie Pennington
A/N: This story takes place as if most of the third
season never happened. Mark has joined the firm and is dating Elaine.
John and Nelle are still dating. Ling and Richard are on again off again.
Billy and Georgia are still married. This story is taking place now
(fourth season). Renee, Georgia and Whipper are in their own firm. Larry
and Ally have met, but they aren't dating. (Yet!)
Georgia heard banging around in the kitchen. She looked at the clock- 4:39 a.m. “What the hell is he doing up already?” She wondered aloud. She walked into the kitchen rubbing her eyes. Billy was fixing a pot of coffee. “I think that dream is a sign, Georgia,” he said grabbing her around the waist. “What dream?” she asked. “The one I told you about a couple of days ago.” he replied. Georgia rolled her eyes, “You’re still on that?” she asked, “I thought you got over that yesterday.” “What if Ally still has feelings for me?” he asked. “Then she will have to deal with those feelings, that’s all.” Georgia said as she turned to go back to bed. “You don’t have feelings for Ally, do you?” she asked. “Of course not, I love only you.” he kissed her and said, “I’m kind of tired, let’s go back to bed.” “I thought you’d never ask.” said Georgia.
Six weeks later......
Billy woke up to the sound of odd noises in the bathroom. “Georgia?” he asked making his way to the bathroom. He could tell by the sounds she was making that she was sick. “Honey are you okay?” he asked. She came out of the bathroom with her hand on her stomach. “Fine,” she said, “I’m fine. Um, do you know that dream you were telling me about, the one where I had a baby and Ally still loved you, and all of that?” Georgia asked. “Yes.” Billy said questionably. “Well,” she said, “we are having a baby.” Billy’s jaw dropped, then he said, “Oh my God Georgia. I told you that dream was a sign.” “I found out yesterday,” she said, “I wanted to tell you in a different way. You haven’t known about the morning sickness since I’ve been out of the house so early, because of that case I’ve been working on.” “That’s alright, I’m just so happy. I’m going to be a dad,” he answered. “Be cautious on who you tell right now,” she said, “please.”
Billy walked into Cage/Fish all smiles. “Good morning Elaine, beautiful day isn’t it?” he said. “Wow, you’re sure in a good mood.” Elaine said. “Yes I am.” he said. He walked away. “Now if I can just find out why.” she said to herself.
Billy looked under the stalls to make sure no one else was in the unisex, besides John and himself. “What’s up Billy?” John asked. “Georgia and I are expecting a baby.” Billy said smiling. Before John could answer, they heard a squeal come from one of the stalls. Elaine came running out of the stall and hugged Billy. “Ooh congratulations.” she said. She smiled at John and Billy and ran out of the unisex. “Great, now she knows, Georgia told me to not tell everyone, now everyone will know.” “Eventually everyone will find out anyway.” John assured Billy. “I gotta go find Ally,” Billy said, “Before Elaine tells her if it’s not too late already.” With that he sprinted out of the bathroom.
“I tried not to tell her yet, Georgia, but Elaine was hiding in the unisex when I told John.” said Billy who was on the phone. “Who is he talking about?” Nelle whispered to John. “Ally,” he answered, “Elaine told her about Georgia being pregnant.” “Georgia’s pregnant?” asked Nelle. John raised his eyebrows. “You didn’t know?” he asked. “I do now.” Nelle said smiling. She gathered her things and walked away. “Chagrined.” said John.
Ally sat in her office staring at her phone, wondering if she should call Larry. Since she heard Billy and Georgia’s news she’d felt down, and talking to Larry always helped. Even though they weren’t “dating”, they had gone out a few times, and she had feelings for him. She still had feelings for Billy too. She probably would always have feelings for Billy, and now those feelings seemed unwarranted, like she wasn’t supposed to have them and she felt wrong for doing so. She picked up the phone and dialed Larry’s number. “Hello?” he answered. “Hi,” Ally said, “It’s me.” “Hi, me.” he said. Ally laughed. “Hey, do you, uh want to go to lunch today?” she asked. “Sure, I’ll meet you at your office around 12:30.” Larry said.
“Have you ever thought about having children?” Elaine asked Mark. She had been thinking about Billy and Georgia. “I don’t really want children.” Mark said not even looking up from his paperwork. Elaine placed her hand on his work. “Mind telling me why not?” she asked. “Not really.” he said, still not looking up. “Excuse me?” asked Elaine. She leaned over Mark’s desk, she was now nose to nose with him. “I want children,” she said in a low and no nonsense tone, “and you better change your mind if we are going to keep this relationship going.” With that she walked out of the room leaving him totally bewildered. “The woman has gone off the deep end,” he mumbled. Elaine came back in his office and glared at him. “I heard that,” she said. She left and slammed the door behind her.
Ally was pushing the food around on her plate. Larry grabbed her hand to stop her. “You haven’t eaten anything, what’s going on?” he asked. “Um, um well see Georgia’s having a baby.” she answered. “That’s wonderful, but why are you so upset?” “That baby was supposed to be mine. Billy promised me that.” Larry raised his eyebrows. “Your baby?” he asked. “When I was 19, he said he couldn’t wait for us to have children. Then he went to Michigan for law review, we broke up because I wanted to stay here. I met up with him about four years ago. He was married to Georgia by then-.” He leaned across the table and cut her off with a kiss. She pulled back from him. “Um what did you do that for?” she asked. “Because I love you,” he said. Ally smiled.
Georgia and Billy were in his office when Georgia asked, out of the blue, “Are you excited about this baby, Billy?” “Yes, Very, very excited.” he said. “Are you?” he asked. “I’m not sure, when the doctor told me, I was happy at the time, but now I don’t know.” He went over and placed his hand on her stomach. “We’ve only known about this for a week, its still sinking in.” he said. “I figured I would have bonded with the baby by now.” she said. “That’s ridiculous,” he said, “You’ll bond with him or her, it will just take time. You are the mother of this baby, and that makes it perfect, I hope if it’s a girl that she is as beautiful as you.” “Ah, Billy, I love you.” She kissed him.
A very tall gorgeous man walked into Cage and Fish and walked up to Elaine. “Hello, I’m looking for Nelle Porter, I’m Michael Foster.” Elaine pointed to Nelle’s office. “Over there.” she said. “Thanks.” he said, walking away.
Michael walked out to Nelle’s office door and he peered inside. “Nelle?” he asked. “How may I help y-?,” she started to ask. “Oh my God! Michael Foster, what are you doing here?” she asked. She took off her glasses. “I just want to see you,” he said, kissing her on the cheek. “We broke up 6 years ago, why are you back now?” she asked. “A couple of things actually,” he said, “first, I was wondering about us the other day. What happened to us?” “We wanted different things,” Nelle said, “We wanted the same things until-,” she said trailing off and looking down at the floor. “I know,” he said, touching her shoulder, “that’s the other thing, I was thinking about her too, wondering if we made the right decision, maybe we could try and find her.” “She’s six years old now, it’s so wrong, we should leave her alone, seeing her right now, would be a confusing interruption in her life, we gave her up because we weren’t ready,” Nelle said. “I was ready,” Michael said, “but you wanted to finish school.” “I was 21 and unmarried, when I got pregnant, I had just gotten into law school, and I was so selfish at the time, I couldn’t be a good mother, and you couldn’t be a good father, I couldn’t give her a good life by myself and I wasn’t ready to get married, I have never regretted that decision,” she said starting to cry. Michael went over to her and rubbed her shoulders. “It’ll be okay,” he said. “I know,” she said wiping her eyes, “I think about her every once in a while too, wondering what she looks like, what are her dreams, does she know about me?” “Have you ever told anybody?” he asked. “No only you and my parents know, but I have been seeing someone for about two years now, I’ve come close to telling him a few times” she said. “Are you two serious?” Michael asked. “Yes” Nelle admitted. “You should tell him,” he added. Michael was about to say something else when they were interrupted by a knock at the door. “Nelle?” asked a voice from the hallway. The door opened slightly and John peered inside. “Oh John,” said Nelle surprised, “This is an, um an old friend, Michael Foster, Michael, this is John Cage.” “Pleased to meet you Michael,” said John shaking his hand, “Nelle we really have to plan our strategy on this case.” “Okay John,” she said, “Michael it was nice seeing you again, call me and we’ll get together for lunch.” Michael kissed Nelle on the cheek and said, “It was nice meeting you, John, bye.” After Michael had left John said, “Okay, lets get down to business-.” “Sorry to cut you off John, but I need to talk to you about something first” she said. “Okay Nelle, what is it?” he asked. “Michael Foster is more than just an old friend, six years ago, when we were in college, um, we had a baby together, I placed her up for adoption” she said timidly. John stared at Nelle. He imagined wrecking ball coming through the wall of her office and smashing him. He kept staring at her until Nelle said, “Say something John.” “I don’t believe it,” he said, still staring off into space. Nelle went over to her desk and pulled out two pictures and handed them to John. The first was a picture of a younger, very pregnant, Nelle standing with Michael. On the back was written “Nelle’s 21st birthday, July 14, 1994, 8 months pregnant.” The second was taken not long too long after the first. It was of Nelle looking extremely tired, lying in a hospital bed, holding a newborn baby. On the back of the picture was “Nelle and Nicole Alexis (1 hr. old) August 21, 1994.” “I gave her up when she was a week old, Nicole Alexis was the name I gave to her, but I think her adoptive parents changed it,” Nelle stated. “It’s a beautiful name,” John said, “Have you ever told anyone?” “No,” she said, “Just Michael and my parents, I’ve been so close to telling everyone, but I haven’t yet.” “Have you ever met her?” he asked. “Only when that picture was taken, I also have her original birth certificate, birth picture and her hand and foot prints.” “I think what you did was great, it took courage and strength, and it makes me love you more, and I hope you want more kids,” he said. Before she said anything he kissed her. “I do think you should tell everyone, before people hear the wrong thing, and I’ll be there to support you,” he said.