All the color left Vanessa's face. She leaned back so that I could see who it was.

"Answer the door and act like I'm not here," I whispered to her.

"What? Why?"

I sat down in the living room. She opened the door.

"What are you doing here Fred?" she asked.

"Have you seen Chris?"

He tried to come in, but she blocked the doorway.

"What's wrong?"  he asked.

She didn't answer.

"Is he here?" he asked.

I came to the door.

"Let him in Vanessa; go in the room and rest."

She looked at me as if she wanted me to change my mind. I had to handle this since he was my best friend.

I told Fred to sit down. He reached his arm out to me to do our handshake. I shook my head. He looked confused.

"I'm going to ask you this question once, and I want you to be real with me." 

"What is it?"

"Did you pay Kim to have sex with me?"

He exhaled deeply. He was guilty.

"Let me explain." 

"Just answer the damn question!"

"Yes, I did."

"Why would you do some shit like that?"

"Because..."

"Because what? What was so important that you had to betray me?"

"Vanessa."

As soon as the name left his lips I ran over to him, wrapping my hands around his neck.

"Vanessa huh?" 

I could feel his pulse throbbing. I wanted to kill him.

Vanessa emerged from the room begging me to let him go.

"No! Not until he explains himself!" I yelled.

His eyes were beginning to tear up. I released my grip a little. We never argued or had any sort of confrontation, but he knew what I was capable of.

"Look, she would call me crying when you would be out late or when you weren't showing her enough affection. She questioned if you were cheating so I put a plan into play so that she could find out."

My grip tightened again causing Fred to croak. Vanessa screamed.

"I should knock the teeth out of your mouth," I said as I let go of his neck.

I grabbed Vanessa, putting my arm around her waist.

"You see this woman? This is my wife!"

Fred glanced at Vanessa as he tried to maintain his breathing.

"I don't want you near her or me! I don't wanna see your face again. You're dead to me!"

"I'm sorry, I just hate to see her hurt like that."

"You were my best friend, you knew that I wasn't doing anything so what was your real reason?"

"That is the real reason."

"The least you could do after ruining my marriage is tell me the truth."

Everyone knew I could smell bullshit from a mile away. I thought about it and that's when it hit me.

"Do you have feelings for Vanessa?" I asked, daring him to answer.

I felt Vanessa's body go limp in my arms. I looked down at her, her eyes were closed.

"Vanessa! You okay baby?" I asked as I shook her.

She didn't respond.

"Fred call 911, she's not responding!" I panicked.

"It's better to take her ourselves, I'll call ahead, let them know we're coming."

I picked her up and carried her to his car. I gently laid her down in the backseat, placing her head in my lap.  We took off as soon as I got in. Throughout the ride I would make sure she was still breathing. I don't know what I would do if I were to lose her and my unborn child.

When we reached the hospital, Fred drove up to the emergency room so that we could get out. As much as I wanted to finish interrogating him, I had other priorities.

Two people ran out of the hospital with a stretcher.

"We'll take good care of her Mr. Jones," one of the nurses stated.

I followed behind them and watched as they did their jobs. By the time they were done she had a bag of liquid hanging that was going into her arm and a mask over her nose. I asked the nurse for a minute once she was free.

"Is she going to be OK?"

"Yes, she was just a little dehydrated."

"Is the baby OK?"

"The baby?"

"Yes, she's pregnant"

"Pregnant?" Fred said from behind me.

I turned around and quickly redirected my attention to the nurse.

"How far along?" she asked.

"Not sure, but she told me she just found out a few days ago."

"OK, we'll do an ultrasound and lab work to check to make sure the baby is still growing and healthy."

"Sound good."

She looked at Fred, "take your friend here to the cafeteria, by the time you all come back she should be feeling better."

Fred looked at me. Without saying a word, I followed the signs to the cafeteria. I could hear his footsteps behind me.

"Wait up Chris!" 

"Just because we're here doesn't mean everything is all good."

"Why didn't you tell me Vanessa was pregnant?"

"Why should it matter?"

He was silent. I was getting annoyed with him. I sat down at a nearby table. I didn't have an appetite, but I couldn't look at Vanessa in the bed like that. Even though the nurse told me she was okay, I felt uneasy. I hated hospitals. It reminded me too much of my mother. Before she died she was in the hospital for what I thought was something minor. I took her word for it when she told me she was alright. She never wanted me to miss school, even if it was to check in on her. The nurse assigned to her told me she should be going home soon. It's a shame she had to die in a hospital room alone. The doctor said they worked on her for almost an hour after her heart stopped but she never came back.

"Let me sit with you so that we could talk," he pleaded.

"I'm not an idiot Fred, I know you have feelings for Vanessa."

He sat across from me.

"I had a thing for Vanessa in college...it never really went away."

"So why did you introduce me to her?" I lowered my voice, "you cared about her so much that you would jeopardize our friendship?"

"It's not just some school boy crush Chris, I'm in love with her."

I stood up, ready to destroy him. Then I remembered where I was. I glanced around. There were families laughing over a quick meal and hospital personnel gossiping about their co-workers. I sat back down.

"This is the last question I'm ever going to ask you," I said.

"You're blowing this out of proportion."

"Are you kidding me? You're in love with my wife!"

"I can't help how I feel."

"Don't give me that! How come you never told me?"

"I don't know."

I shook my head. I wish this day would end already.

"So, we're no longer brothers?" he asked.

"Not in the least."

With that said I walked away, leaving him in his thoughts. I was appalled by his stupidity. Me? Blowing this out of proportion? My best friend being in love with my wife and I'm supposed to see the logic in it? This shit can't be real.

When I returned to Vanessa she was awake. I ran up to her and planted kisses all over her face.

"How are you feeling baby?" I asked.

"I'm alright, the nurse told me the baby is fine."

I kissed her some more.

"When can we go home?"

"She's getting my discharge papers ready now. Waiting on the doctor to give me the green light to leave."

"We can finish talking once we get home."

"It's not all Fred's fault baby. You can't be so hard on him."

"Why the fuck not?"

"I'll tell you once we're home."

I immediately began to think the worse. I hope it isn't something that will make this situation any more complex than it already is.