Love Menagerie:

Chapter 30: Help Me Tell the Truth

A Week Later

She couldn't believe the day had come. She had wished for and prayed for this day for as long as she could remember. And now it was here ... and she was nothing more than a pile of nerves. To be quite honest, she was scared to death. She hated roller coasters and often times would come off crying, but this was far worse than that. This was her future, her earthly eternity. She had always promised herself that unless there was domestic violence, she would not get divorced. She would not submit her children to that kind of life. And here she was, about to marry a man she knew no longer loved her. How stupid could she be and still breathe?

Oh, how Brittany wished she would no longer breathe.

Freddy/Nick

"Freddy, man, you can't tell her!" Nick flung himself in front of the door like a melodramatic player in a romance novel. "She's pregnant with your kid. If you call off the wedding-"

"I'm not calling off the wedding!" Freddy insisted, lightly pushing Nick away from the door but Nick held fast. Truth is, Freddy could pick Nick up over his head and sling him across the room ... but hey, Nick was his friend. "Nick, man, I just need to tell her. I'm still going to marry her! But she deserves to know the truth!"

"No, she doesn't!"

"What??"

Nick shook his head. "I mean, she doesn't when she's pregnant, Fred. Gosh, you're going to kill her, as well as your child."

"She'll be fine, Nick. Brittany's strong. Just move, you ass."

"No!"

"I'm not abandoning her or anything!" Freddy threw his hands up in the air, exasperated. "I'm still going to marry her, I'm still going to spend the rest of my life with her and our baby. But she needs to know, Nick! She's my best friend ... I can't let her go into this, unknowing."

Nick sighed and in utter defeat moved away from the door.

Freddy took a deep breath as he stood in front of Brittany's bathroom door. After a minute or so of debate, he knocked determinedly ... he would not back down, not now. His breath caught in his throat as she opened the door in a simple white dress, her hair pulled up and held with little white clips and Baby's Breath splayed throughout.

They were only getting married in front of the Justice of the Peace, and their big wedding after the baby was born would be much more extravagant ... but if they were only doing it once, he would want her to look just like she did at that moment.

"Yes?" She offered a small smile and he could tell just by looking at her that she was nervous.

"Can I come in?"

Brittany moved aside and let him into the bathroom, watching as he closed the door behind him. With one look in his eyes, she knew that this was it. This wedding--or whatever it was called--wasn't going to happen; this marriage was never going to have a chance; this relationship wasn't going to continue; and this baby was going to have a broken family from the beginning until the end.

"What is it, Freddy?" she whispered, her eyes piercing his soul as she gazed at him, knowing this was the end ... the end she'd known was one day coming, the end she had dreaded for so long.

He stared at her, so determined to find the right words and to say them ... he had to say them, he had to. And as he stared at her, he saw her heart breaking and he knew that she was well aware of the words he was searching for. They both knew. And neither said anything.

Nick/Sarah

"I can't believe they actually did it."

"Me neither."

"Why didn't he tell her? I thought he went in to tell her."

"He said it was the strangest thing ... she looked at him like she already knew."

"So he just went through with it?? This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. They're out of their minds."

"I don't know, Sarah," Nick sighed. "Maybe they just love each other too much ... no matter what Freddy says. I think they're both still madly in love with one another and Freddy's just scared sh*tless."

Sarah looked out over the city lights, wrapping her jacket tighter around her body. Seattle could be freakin' freezing. "I bet their having a great time at that hotel," she said sarcastically, watching as her breath poured out in white clouds in front of her.

Nick laughed suddenly and she looked at him with question. "Nothing. It's just ... you do realize that just because their relationship is in turmoil, and just because Freddy doesn't think he loves her, and just because Brittany doesn't think he loves her, doesn't mean they're not gonna have sex. Freddy's a guy, hello?"

Sarah stared at him, appalled. "Excuse me?? So if you suddenly 'fell out of love' with me, you'd still have sex with me if I let you?"

Nick looked away, suddenly feeling trapped.

"Nice deer in the headlights look, Nick." She laughed quietly and looked back out at the city. "For your information, Brittany was telling me that they haven't slept together in a while. One, because it's been too hard with her being pregnant and two, because there's been a ton of tension between them."

"Hmm ... nothing like tying the knot to diminish tension."

"Exactly my point ... this was the stupidest thing they've ever done."

Nick sighed and stood from his chair. "C'mmon, let's go to bed." He helped her down from the ledge that she'd been perched on and held her hand as they walked through the house, locking up for the night. "It's a little strange being in Freddy's house without him here, wouldn't you say?"

"You know what's even more strange?"

"Hmm?"

"Brittany's not coming back to Florida. She lives here now."

They stopped walking and looked around the house, both feel strangely melancholy. Sarah sighed as she looked at the pictures of Freddy and Brittany and their families hanging on the walls. She was really going to miss her friend; their lives had changed so much since they'd met Nick. It had all started with Sarah begging Brittany to talk Derek into introducing her to Nick. And suddenly everything was moving so fast ... Sarah was with Nick, and Brittany was pregnant with Freddy's baby. And now they were married ... unhappily.

"I wonder if she's gonna ever ask for the rest of her things."

"Hmm ... maybe she'll give me her dresser. I love that dresser."

Nick laughed at her and continued to pull her up the staircase, turning off the stairwell light on the way. He wrapped his arms around her in the dark as they made it to their bedroom. "I love you, Miss Martinez," he whispered in her ear as she ran her fingers through his hair before pulling his face to hers for a kiss. "And in answer to your question ... you don't have to worry about me sleeping with you and not loving you. Because I will never fall out of love with you."