Some part of me wished I could lay in my bed for the rest of my life, my face nuzzled into the crook of Zane's neck as his own warm breath tickled my forehead.

I had spent so long without any close human contact, that it felt nice to have the warmth of Zane's body beside mine. I didn't feel any sort of romantic connection with it, I just liked feeling like I had someone to fall back on; literally.

As if he could sense I was awake, a hint of a smile began to play at his lips. "Good morning."

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" I breathed, gesturing toward the nonexistent space between our bodies. He rested his head back against his pillow with a small smile.

"Very much so." he muttered. I untangled myself from his comforting embrace and leaned over the side of my bed, my fingers gently massaging my temples.

I could feel the bed cave slightly as he shifted. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No." I scratched at my neck. "It's just. . . I feel guilty, you know. About everything It feels like someone stacked weights on my shoulders and I have two choices. If I try to move in any direction, I'll collapse under them."

"The second decision?" Zane breathed.

"If I just tell him, just get it all off my chest, the weights might be lifted." I answered quietly.

He stayed quiet for a few minutes, as if he were contemplating his next move.

"I don't think we should tell him," he paused momentarily, "yet."

"Yet?" I repeated.

He stretched his arms behind his head as he leaned into the headboard, yawning.

"I think we should try to figure out for sure who left the damn baby. If we tell him right now, he'll want evidence, Paige. He'll think it's some sort of sick joke, he won't believe it." he explained further in detail.

"He'll believe me."

"Will he really, Paige? Do you honestly believe that?" Zane snapped.

I clenched my bed sheets in my hands and shook my head to myself, eyes trained on my shut bedroom door. I began to rise to check on Liam, stopped by Zane's hand curling around my wrist.

"We need to find his mother. Someone had to have seen a pregnant girl around here, Pai." he sat up, "Aren't you even a little bit curious as to why she would leave Liam with you? She knew you were the one in the room after Mark left, she wanted her son to be left in your care."

"So? What sort of lead does that give us, Zane? Most of the school knows who I am; hell, most of the town knows my name. Not to mention there were over a hundred people at that party. It could have been anyone." I retorted.

He ruffled his dark locks with a sigh. "We need to try and find her."

"We need to tell Mark."

For a moment, we exchanged a look. In the matter of seconds, I had cowered down and fallen back on to the bed beside him, knowing very well one of us had already won the fight and it wasn't me.

*

Keeping Liam quiet all morning and a secret from the hungover eighteen year old hunched over the toilet down the hall proved to be a challenge. Any time I heard the flushing from the room down the hall, I shifted Liam in my arms to insure that he didn't start crying. By the time Zane was able to sneak out of the room to drive his brother back home, the baby boy in my arms had begun to doze.

I stared at him with a small smile, brushing my thumb along his cheek. He looked so innocent; like nothing in the world could shake him out of his childlike daze.

I was ready to put Liam back down when Mom pushed the door open and peaked into the room, a strange smile breaking out across her face.

"So?" she prompted, stepping into the room and shutting the door gently behind her, careful not to disturb Liam in any way. I hugged him against me as I narrowed my eyes at her petite figure against the door frame.

"So?" I responded, confused.

She rolled her eyes childishly. "You and Matthew."

"Zane." I corrected, feeling as if I were a record player. I had corrected my parents yesterday too, trying to force them to understand the consequences of calling Zane by his real name. I had seen it first hand and it had scared the crap out of me.

"He was in here all night and you expect me to think nothing happened?" she crossed her arms. "I may be your mother, Paige, but I'm not as oblivious as you may think."

"Oblivious to what? Mom, nothing happened. We slept next to each other, fully dressed, on my bed. Nothing happened." she shook her head, watching in silence as I bounced Liam in my arms and headed for the bottle Zane had stole from the kitchen and brought back to the room before heading out.

In his mind, the plan was simple. We'd question a few people at school and around town, possibly even Marcus indirectly, and piece all the information together and try to solve the mind-boggling puzzle; who had left Liam in the room that night. He was sure we'd find her, that we would be able to narrow down the selection once we stood back and analyzed everything and everyone from afar. My head was already on a different situation entirely.

Marcus had been down the hall and I still hadn't had enough courage to confess. It was as if I had a hook in my stomach and anytime I took a step toward telling him, I was yanked and reeled back in.

As if he could feel my discomfort and wandering thoughts, Liam's eyes fluttered open and he stared up at me with a curious expression. For a moment, I forgot it was an infant in my arms. Those eyes, the same eyes I had loved and hated, had dreamt about, begged to see again. The eyes of deep blues that pulsed in and out until gray flecks floated around like small stars in a dimly lit midnight blue sky.

My attention was brought back when he wrapped his small hand around my thumb and hugged it closer to him, tugging at it playfully. I couldn't fight the smile that spread across my face at the action; the baby in my arms had stole my heart, and he was well aware of it.

"Do you want me to finish feeding him while you get ready?" Mom questioned, looking anxious to hold the calm baby in my arms. I lifted my head, eyebrows arched.

"Ready to go wear?"

She frowned, wrinkles appearing beside her eyes. "Zane said you were going shopping for little Liam this afternoon. I thought the plans were a mutual decision."

"They weren't." I muttered.

Somehow, I wasn't the least bit surprised to hear he had made plans involving me and my baby without my knowledge. For being as smart as he was, Zane lacked the common sense of asking people whether or not they're comfortable with a situation, he tended to just act on impulse.

"So, is he the one?" Mom tried at a conversation again.

"The one?" I laughed. "Like the guy I'm going to marry? Of course not, Mom. That's little Za-"

She bursted out laughing, cutting off what I was getting at. "Honey, that's not what I meant, and you're lying to yourself if you believe you still view that boy as a child. I see the way you look at him."

"I look at him like that because he reminds me of Mark." I breathed, cheeks flushing.

My mom stared at me for so long it was possible she had burnt holes through me.

"He loves you, honey. He's loved you for as long as I can remember, and I know you love him too. So please, baby girl, don't break his heart."

*

"Be honest, I'd be one of those sexy dad's that all the single mother's try to hit on with this." Zane joked. I buried my face in my hands as a giggle escaped me, eyes shut as I tried to shake the image from my mind.

Zane had been set on trying to get one of the baby carrier's that are worn on your chest. He had been insistent that attachment parenting would be good for Liam because of his strange circumstances and living conditions. His lecture of the bonding of Liam and me nearly had be dozing halfway through; I was sure he realized it, because he shut his mouth and stopped talking a little after.

I couldn't really say that having Zane with me through all of this was a bad thing. I liked knowing I had someone to fall back on if things got rough, if I needed a companion or even just something as small as human contact or someone to pour my guts out to. He had willingly agreed to be here for not only Liam, but me as well, and there wasn't a real way I could repay him for his continuous support.

"Were you in love with my brother?" Zane broke the silence a few minutes later, pushing the cart through the stroller aisle, eyes scanning either side of us for the perfect one.

"Zai, I don't think-"

"It's a simple question." he whispered. "I'm not going to hate you or leave if you say yes."

I paused in front of a blue and black stroller at the end of the aisle, running my fingers along the cold metal connecting the wheels.

"I wasn't in love with him romantically." I said quietly. "I was in love with the idea of us being friends forever. Of never having to be apart, of caring for one another when we're older. We'd be those friends that have kids named after each other."

"And he stomped that idea, that illusion, into the ground?" Zane guessed.

"More than that. It felt as if he'd drove a knife through my chest, as dramatic as that sounds. I felt worthless, like I had done something wrong." I averted my eyes back to the carrier in the cart, hopeful Zane wouldn't press the subject any further.

I started toward the cart, freezing midway when I caught the emotionless look that had twisted Zane's expression. He looked as if he wanted to walk out of the store now and do something stupid in reckless.

"We're going to find Liam's real mother." Zane's beautiful baby blues met mine. "Together. I'm not letting you go, Paige. Not again."  

***AN***

*Not Edited*

Hope you guys enjoyed! 

What do you think of Zane's plans? Do you think it's better to find Liam's birth mother before telling Mark? Why or why not? And do you think Paige has feelings for Zai? 

Let me know what you thought/think!

~ChasingMadness24