Secrets - Brollins

16.

Rebecca watched Ashley carefully pick up a freshly swaddled Knox from the small plastic basinet next to her hospital bed. Knox had just been given his first sponge bath by one of the nurses which he hated every second of until he was swaddled and back in his mother's arms.

"Wait" Ashley shook her head "So you heard Colby say he was going to ask you to give it a shot between you two?"

"Yup" Rebecca nodded as she watched the blonde walk around the room with her son "I was exhausted but I know what I heard.. he was telling Knox all about his secrets"

"What other secrets are you keeping in that little brain of yours?" Ashley questioned and as she looked down at the baby boy who was staring up at her

"I tried that.." Rebecca nodded "He's only six hours old.. so talking isn't really his strong suit yet"

"Speaking of.. where is Colby?"

"I sent him out for food" she nodded as Knox let out a tiny whimper and Rebecca held her arms out for him

"Speaking of food.." Ashley nodded with a smile as she carefully passed the newborn to his mother

Knox began to eat eagerly as his he held his mother's finger in his tiny hand and stared into her eyes, it was in that moment that Rebecca knew she was in trouble for the rest of her life with this little boy.. he had her heart completely.

"So what are you gonna do?" Ashley questioned and Rebecca looked up at her "Are you going to tell Colby that you heard what he said?" She asked and Rebecca shook her head

"No" she said looking back down at the baby

"Why not?" Ashley's eyes widened

"Because.. he said he wasn't going to ask me now because of everything that went down with Sarah.. he's obviously changed his mind so I'm not going to bring it up and cause issues between us" she shook her head "Not now.. its not the time"

There was a knock on the door and the small brunette nurse, Jessica walked in the room with a smile and a brown envelope in her hands

"We've got all of little Knox's test results back" she said with a nod "We just wanted to make sure you had a copy of it for your records" she stated as she handed the envelope over to Rebecca "Everything checked out perfectly, just like we thought it would.. he was born a few weeks early but he's completely healthy and perfect but I'm sure you already now how perfect he is"

"It's starting to sink in more and more as the minutes go by" Rebecca nodded as she stared at her little boy

"The paternity results are in their as well" she nodded and Ashley's jaw dropped as she watched the nurse walk out the door "If you have any questions just call the nurses station" she said before disappearing

Once the door was closed Ashley looked at her best friend with a confused face and then down at Knox and back to Rebecca.

"Explain" Ashley threw her arms in the air "Explain to me why the hell they ran a paternity test"

"I honestly forgot that was even a thing.." Rebecca shook her head

"What the hell does that mean?" Ashley asked

"When Colby and I got together.. Luke and I were separated but we had a slip up a few days before the halloween party" she said

"You had a slip up? A slip up? What the fuck do you mean a slip up? Like he slipped and magically fell in your-"

"Ashley!" Rebecca exclaimed and looked down at the newborn in her arms and then back to her best friend

"Why was that never mentioned to me?"

"I tried! I tried to tell you months ago before you decided to go and make everything explode between Luke and I"

"How the hell did you get Colby to agree to a paternity test?"

"I told him at the very beginning, when we were in the hospital after Luke and I got into the huge fight.. they took a DNA sample from both him and Luke a week later.. Colby just automatically assumed that he was Knox's father and he was the better man between the two"

"Well I mean he is a better man than Luke" Ashley nodded

"The further along I got in the pregnancy, we forgot that we signed the papers to have a paternity test done when Knox was born.. neither one of us remembered it and once he was born we were both so consumed with everything happening that it didn't pop up in our minds to even think about" and she looked at the envelope in her hand

"And now you've got the truth in your hand" Ashley nodded "Are you going to look?" She asked and Rebecca took a deep breath

"Look at what?" They heard Colby's voice as he walked through the door with food in his hand and he placed it on the table and Ashley and Rebecca looked at one another, neither one wanting to say it but Rebecca knew she needed to be completely truthful with him

"Jessica just brought all of Knox's test results in" she said and Colby nodded as he looked down at he newborn who was falling asleep quickly "All of the results Colby" she said and his eyes met hers "The paternity test results" she said and Colby nodded

He took the envelope from her, took the regular test results out of the large envelope and removed the smaller envelope that had 'Paternity Results' written on the outside of it. He looked at the envelope and then to Rebecca, he saw the fear in her eyes.. the fear that was written all over her face was exactly what he was feeling as well.

He shook his head and handed the small envelope over to Ashley...

"Burn them" Colby said to her quickly as Ashley took the envelope from him and watched him gently take Knox from Rebecca with a smile as he cradled the sleeping newborn against his chest "This is my boy"