*February 13th, 1989*

"Tomorrow is Valentine's Day!" Michael squeals with happiness.

"I know, Michael, I know," I smile.

I'm sitting on the bed, stroking my stomach. It's really showing now, with 3 months until Ryder comes, I'm pretty big.

May will soon be here..

Michael joins me on the bed, placing his hand on my stomach.

"Not long now," Michael says.

"I know. Are you excited?" I ask.

Michael grins like the Cheshire Cat.

"For sure. These three months are gonna go like lightning."

I shift myself from the bed.

"I'm gonna head on out," I say, grabbing my coat from the rack.

"Oh, where are you going baby?" Michael asks.

I smile, and bend down and kiss his lips.

"I'm just gonna see the Jax Boys. I haven't seen them since New Year's Day. You wanna come?" I ask, ruffling his perfect black curls. He smirks.

"Nah, I'm ok thanks."

"Alright. I won't be long. But I need to see them. I miss them," I smile.

"Aww, that's sweet of you. Have fun," he says.

"Sure you don't wanna come?" I ask.

Michael shakes his head. "No, I gotta sort out for tomorrow!"

I roll my eyes and tut, giggling lightly.

"Ok, I'll see you in about two hours."

I leave the room, closing the door slowly. I head out into the street.

I take out my phone to text Kieran.

"I'm on the way. See you boys in a while :)" I write, before pressing send.

I carry on walking down the street. Even now, I find it creepy to walk by the park.

Daniel killed himself there.

All of our fights, our arguments, and pain took place in that park. I shudder as I walk by, before my phone buzzes.

"Kk Bex, c ya in a few! :D" Kieran replies.

I remember the first time I properly spoke to him, I hit him in the head with a shoe.

Ha, good times.

That was right before me and Daniel had a fight in.. the park.

Stop it Becky!

I place my phone in my pocket and eventually get to Kieran's house. I knock on the door. Wayne comes.

"Cozzy, we were expecting you!" he says.

Wow, the nickname 'Cozzy' has even rubbed off on the Jax boys.

I enter the house, and I'm greeted by all the boys.

"Aww, there she is! And look, the little one is coming along nicely, too!" Kieran smiles, hugging me.

It makes me laugh to know there was a time where they would only hurt me if they touched me. Sammy comes to give me a hug.

"Hello, Becky. Very nice seeing you again," he says. His German accent is really sweet. Miles comes in.

"Becky! Hey girl, what's new with you!" he greets me, pulling me into a hug.

"Ah, nothin', what about you?" I smirk. Miles steps back.

"Our lives be exactly the same," he says. Christopher comes forward.

"Coz, nice seeing you again!" he smiles.

"Y'alright Christopher?" I smile back.

He nods and Cameron pushes him out the way.

Oh, this is awkward. Janine's here.

"Oh," I say shortly, looking down to avoid eye contact with her.

"Y'alright Becky..?" Cameron asks awkwardly.

I look up at him and nod.

"I'm great," I lie.

I've become a little off-put having Janine here. Kieran comes forward again.

"Uh, so, what you wanna do?" he asks. I look his way, and smile.

"Just do whatever you do while I'm not here. I don't mind," I say. Kieran smiles in approval.

"Great! Simms, get the beers out!" he calls, and Wayne heads off into the kitchen.

I smile awkwardly. I hope they don't offer me one.

Wayne comes back in, carrying a whole load of beers. He hands them round and offers me one.

"Oh, no thank you," I smile, and he passes it to Kieran instead.

"So, what else do you plan on doing?" I ask. Miles looks up from the TV.

"Oh, I got Sandra coming round in a few," he explains.

"I got Annie," Wayne adds.

"Me, I have Stacey," Kieran smirks.

"And these are..?" I ask, waiting for one of them to respond.

"Our girlfriends. A lot has happened in a couple months," Cameron replies. "I got Tatiana coming."

I look over at Sammy and Christopher, who look a little awkward.

"And what about you?" I ask.

They both leave the room, right when the doorbell goes. I follow the two boys, they look upset.

They end up in Kieran's bedroom. I open the door, and find them both sitting on the bed playing with their phones.

"Now why did you guys bail?" I ask.

Sammy ignores me, Christopher looks up.

"Isn't it obvious? We ain't got girlfriends! Look at us, 32 years old, single, got no life. All we got is our boys, but even they're starting to get on with life, settle down. Look at me and Sammy. The weak ones in this gang. I'm the geeky one and Sammy's the German dude. We both got flaws," he says. Sammy looks up.

"We have flaws," he repeats. I nod.

"But you guys are good too! C'mon, this is almost childish, fellas. This is the kinda thing a 12-year-old would say! You guys have qualities about you!" I say.

Jeesh, really?

"But we don't have girlfriend. This make us different. We are adult mans now. We need to get on with lifes," Sammy says.

He really can't get his grammar right, can he? Bless him.

"Hmm.. you'll get girlfriends soon, I know it," I say. Christopher looks down at his phone again.

"And you must be cool in some way, as you're in The Jax! No one messes with you!" I try to raise their spirits.

"No one did mess with us. Now they know we ain't really bad, they do whatever to us," Chris says. I look down and sigh.

"Well.."

I can't think of what to say.

Suddenly, the door opens, and a young-looking girl, with short, straight, brown hair, black eyes, a short dress and olive skin enters the room, fixing up their high heel. She sees me, Sammy and Chris and smiles.

"Hi!"

her voice has a brittle, nasal quality. "Kieran was wondering where you were. I heard voices in here, so I assumed you were here!"

She giggles hysterically and walks further into the room. Wow, she's a giggler.

"Oh, you must be Becky! I've heard a lot about you! I'm Stacey, Kieran's girlfriend, nice to meet you!" she giggles again, before extending her hand out for me to shake.

I place my hand in hers and shake slowly. "Yeah, I'm Becky. Nice to meet you too."

"Ugh, Stacey, what's taking you so-- oh, hi!"

Another girl enters the room, she has long, brown, curly hair, skin just a little darker than Michael's, and brown eyes.

She's wearing a black dress, which again, is rather short. I smile faintly.

"I'm Tatiana! Cameron's--"

"Girlfriend? I assume," I finish her sentence for her.

Damn, she's rather pretty. I wish I looked like her. I mean, except the hair. I love my blonde hair.

"Yeah, how did you know?" she asks, genuinely confused at how I would know.

"He kinda told me?" I suggest. She widens her eyes.

"He spoke to you? How dare he!" she cries, running from the room.

Wow, she's a protector by the looks of it. She's one of them kinda "You can't even look at my boyfriend without me killing you" sort people.

"Sammy, Chris, you wanna go downstairs now?" I ask. Stacey sits on the bed with us.

"Yeah, you gotta come down!" she giggles. "Kieran'll be wondering where you are!"

God, she's so hyper!

"Uh.. maybe.." Sammy says.

I take Sammy and Chris' hands and drag them downstairs.

"Oh, where's my invitation downstairs?" Stacey giggles, running after us.

God, she's so ditzy and mental!

We get downstairs, and I sit Sammy and Chris down. They're acting a little childish really.

But, they are single, and it is close to Valentine's Day..

Another girl comes into the room where me, the boys, Stacey and Tatiana are.

This girl has blonde hair, like mine, blue eyes, like me, and a pair of baggy gym trousers and a cotton Tshirt on.

She's a sporty type, I can tell. The complete opposite of me.

"Hey, I'm Sandra, Miles' GF. How goes it?" she asks, extending her hand out to meet mine.

"Oh, I'm Becky. I'm fine.." I say politely.

She smirks and sits down by Miles. I can't see where Janine is. She must have gone out, or home. Good. I didn't wanna spend time feeling awkward because she was here.

Miles places his arm around Sandra, and finally, the last girl comes in.

She's got ginger hair, green eyes, and she's wearing a pair of blue jeans, and a black tank top. She has a black fedora on her head, and a lot of tomboyish make up on, all that black eyeliner, dark purple eye shadow, black lipstick, all that business.

She looks awesome, I will admit.

"The name's Annie. And you are?" she asks casually.

"Becky. Uh, you must be Wayne's girlfriend," I say awkwardly.

She seems more cool than any of the boys put together.

"Yeah, I am," she says, popping the chewing gum in her mouth. "Who's asking?"

"Uh, no one, I was just.. I think you look awesome," I say, trying to change the subject.

She advances on me, taking me by the collar.

"What's wrong with you?" she asks slyly.

I swallow and try to take her hands away. "Uh, nothing! I-I just.. I came to see the boys, I ain't dating none of them," I say, trying to sound cool by using "ain't" rather than "I'm not."

Annie lets go of me.

"Dude, I'm just messing with you. It's nice to meet you," she smiles.

I sigh with relief. Good, she isn't a feisty one.

"Oh, right. Nice to meet you too," I say.

I look Kieran's way, and he's miming the word "sorry."

I chuckle and mime back, "it's ok."

We watch TV, and just hang, really. It's all good.

The girls all seem to be alright.. To a certain extent.

Tatiana is a little too over-protective of Cameron, Stacey is so damn hyper, Sandra makes me worn out just by looking at how sporty she is, and Annie is a little scary.

But they all seem ok. I think.

Soon, it's time for me to go home.

"I'll see you guys later," I bid farewell and head out the door.

"I'm sorry the girls are very.. different. But, Stacey is a nice girl once you're used to how much she giggles," Kieran says. I nod.

"She's a nice girl. Watch out for Tatiana though, she seems a little protective of Cam," I chuckle. Kieran hugs me one last time.

"See you round, Bex," he says.

I wave and head down the street.

"See you later!" I call back.

I walk past the park, shuddering again.

So, today I met four girls.

A hyper one, a protective one, a sporty one, and a tomboy one.

I soon get home, back to Michael. I unlock the door, and enter the house.

"I'm home!" I call, before walking into the living room, having had no response from Michael.

He's not there. I head into the kitchen, he's not there either.

"Michael?" I call out.

I'm getting no response. I head up the stairs, which takes me a little longer because of the fact that I'm pregnant.

Damn my size!

I get to the top of the stairs, and open the bedroom door.

"Michael are you--ARGH!"

My eyes meet the scene in front of me.

The room, everything is a mess.

The bed has tipped over, the wardrobe has been destroyed and all the clothes scattered on the floor, the wallpaper ripped to shreds..

"Mmph!" I hear a soft, gentle, muffled cry.

Where is it coming from? I follow the cries to find..

Oh god, no.

"Michael!" I cry, finally finding him.

He's got duct tape sealing his mouth closed, and he's tied to a chair by his hands and legs, and his waist.

"How did this happen?" I cry.

"Mmph!" Michael cries out again.

"Oh, right!" I rip the tape from his mouth.

"ARGH!" He cries from the pain.

"Sorry, I apologise. "What happened?"

"It was--it--it was--"

"Michael, please try and speak, sweetie," I demand.

I untie the ropes, and Michael exhales loudly to get his breath back.

He points up at the wall. How did I not notice that before?

"Oh my--Michael!" I cry, embracing him tightly.

My eyes fill with tears.

Why can't we have just a month, a week, no, a day without anything bad happening?

"MICHAEL WILL BE MINE-THAT'S A PROMISE" is written in capitals on the wall in red spray paint.

"Could it really be..?" I start, but then Michael takes my hand in his.

He catches his breath fully, before looking into my eyes guiltily.

"Baby.. I'm sorry.." he says, a tear falling down his cheek.

"Why are you sorry?" I ask softly.

"Because.. she did it again.. but this time, she forced me to go further.."