PART TEN
Chapter One: "No Way Out"
Chapter Two: "Let Her In"
Chapter Three: "Out Alone"
Chapter Four: "Growing Together"
Chapter Five: "Stuck In The Middle"
Chapter Six: "Growing Apart"

Previously on 'The Caliente Affairs',
In 'Part 8', Dina decided she couldn't have a baby knowing it might be Ed's & Alex tried to kiss Dirk whilst Don finally found out Nina was pregnant. In 'Part 9' Dirk Dreamer turned to Orlando for advice. After confessing to him about what had happened, Dirk called Meadow over & when she arrived he told her what Alex had tried to do to him. Shocked & annoyed, Dirk tried to comfort Meadow & the two shared a hug. Meanwhile, Darren told Cassandra he'd found a buyer for his artwork. When she found out he wasn't going to put the money towards their wedding but towards Dirk's college fund she knew she'd have to work hard to persuade Dirk to not let his dad waste the money on him. Clueless of her scheme Dirk finally let down his guard and welcomed Cassandra into his heart.

Chapter One: "No Way Out"

Christmas had sneaked up on Dina Caliente rather quickly. It only seemed like last week her sister was throwing her out of their old house on Middle Road for cheating on Mortimer... And now she'd done it again. Except this time she was pregnant and she didn't know who the father was. It didn't matter, Dina thought to herself as she woke up early and quietly went downstairs. Today Dina was going to have a termination and no-one but Nina would ever have to know that she was pregnant.

Speaking of Nina, she had had her own troubles with a pregnancy. After Don Lothario found out about it he started arguing lots about how he wasn't ready to raise a child yet. The two were barely on speaking terms and the atmosphere in the house was very uneasy. Of course, simple-old Mortimer Goth didn't have a clue about what was going on right under his nose. Dina was surprised he wasn't suspicious but every time she saw him he was either on the phone or not home at all. With all of her problems she hadn't even had the time to think about what he might have been up to.
"You're up early." Dina said, worried that Nina was going to find out why she was up early herself.
"I could say the same for you, what's up?" She asked.
"I... I really don't want to talk about it. But trust me, when I come back everything will be okay."

"Whoa, when you come back. Where are you going off to so early?" Nina asked stopping to speak with her sister.
"It's nothing, just going to solve some of my problems." Dina avoided the truth expertly, or so she thought.
"What problems? Does this have to do with your 'tomato'?" Nina asked. Tomato was the code word she and Dina had come up with whenever they wanted to talk about her baby.
"Yes." Dina sighed.
"Dina, what's wrong?"
"I'm sorry Nina, but I just can't go through with it. Not like this, it wouldn't be right." Dina confessed.

Nina placed a hand to her head and tried her best to supress the anger that was suddenly appearing for her sister. "You're not talking about what I think you're talking about, are you?"
"It'll be over and done with before dinner." Dina told her sister.

"Over and done with! You sound like you're going to play a round of golf or something. Dina, you're actually going to kill your child?" Nina said, frustrated at her sister's decision.
"Be quiet! Look, it's barely even the size of a fist yet. And besides I don't want to think about it, just let me go." Dina said walking towards the door.

"You're not going anywhere." Nina said pointing at her sister as if she were pointing at a spoilt child, which is what she felt like Dina acted like sometimes. "Why don't you want to think about it? Is it because in the back of your mind you know this is the wrong way out?"
"Of course it's the wrong way out! But apart from telling the truth it's the only option I have."
"So you're going to kill your baby just because it might not be Mortimer's?"
"Nina don't be stupid, do you really think that a fifty-eight year old man could be the father of a child?" Dina said sarcastically.
"Why not? He fathered Alexander when he was forty-five and he's not exactly a geriatric. I mean you two are practically all over each every night." Nina was quick to point out.

"We were, but something's come between us." Dina said as she put a hand on her stomach.
"The only thing that's come between you is guilt because you know that getting rid of your child is the wrong thing to do." Nina said.

"I can't talk about this anymore. I'm wrong, but it's the only way out of this mess. Once it's gone everything will be back to normal." Before Dina left Nina reached out one last time to her sister.
"From one pregnant woman to another, just please think long and hard about what it is you're giving up."
"I have. And in my opinion I could stand to lose a lot more if I go through with having my... Tomato." Dina said as she stopped at the door.
"You're not just going to lose your baby if you go through with the abortion, you're also going to lose a sister. Just think about that when you're in the waiting room." Nina said as she walked off to the den.

Dina thought about her sister's threat as she stood at the open front door. Upon coming to a final decision she was just about to leave when Mortimer came down the stairs.

"I thought I heard you down here, where are you going?" He asked puzzled as his wife stood at the front door.

Dina turned around, startled at her husband's appearance downstairs. She looked into Mortimer's eyes and answered his question, "I'm going... Nowhere." She said as she closed the door. "Why don't I make you something for breakfast." Dina offered as a secret apology to him.

"That's a lovely offer but I'm afraid I have to go out this morning." Mortimer said.
"You're going out. Where?" Dina asked.
"I've got a very important meeting. But don't worry, this should be the last one." Mortimer said cryptically as he began to leave.

"You've been out a lot lately, is there something you're not telling me?" Dina asked.
"Oh Dina, what do you think? I have another wife in another town! Honestly, you're always so suspicious." Mortimer laughed as he put on a coat and walked out into the early morning sunrise.

She had no right to be suspicious of Mortimer, especially when she was the one keeping secrets. 'No more', she thought as she placed a hand to her stomach. With the other hand she picked up the phone and dialled a familiar number.

Chapter Two: "Let Her In"

Across town, the warm sun shone through Brandi Broke's window as she and Shaun held each other on her bed. They had planned to spend the night together...

But they were interrupted when Calvin Broke, the youngest of the three Broke children, refused to go to sleep in his brothers' bedroom and would only settle in Brandi's room.
"I can't believe you won't do it." Shaun said as he turned his back to Brandi on the bed.
"I can't do it in front of my child he'd know. He's not a little baby anymore." Brandi said as she turned down Shaun's offer of woohoo.

"I forgot it was his birthday today, I suppose you're right in not wanting to have..."
"Puppy!" Brandi interrupted. "We don't use the real word in front of the child." She explained.
"Oh come on, he's a big boy today. You're going to have to have the talk with him sooner or later." Shaun said, being alarmingly upfront in Brandi's opinion.
"Then I'd rather it be later. Also, you don't even live here. What kind of message would I be giving out to him if he knew you only came over for a quick..."

"Puppy!" Shaun laughed. "You know that isn't just the reason I come over. We are engaged and tonight was supposed to be special. You know I think of you as more than just a quick... Puppy!" Shaun said.

"I know, you wouldn't be engaged to me if you didn't. And you wouldn't be carrying out all this amazing work on my house if you intended to just leave me after you got what you wanted." Brandi said. Shaun had hired builders to renovate the loft so that Beau and Dustin no longer had to share a bedroom. He'd also been painting and wallpapering the living room of Brandi's house himself.
"You know I think the world of you and your kids." Shaun said.
"And they think the world of you. You've been amazing to them, to us." Brandi said as she and Shaun passionately kissed on the bed.

"That's why I know I can ask you this without wondering if it's too soon." Brandi said.
"What?" Shaun asked.
"I want you to move in with us and become a full part of this family." Shaun hesitated as he thought about what to say.
"Wow, I don't know what to say! It's not that I don't want to, but I'm nervous. Also I'd have to talk with Ed about finding another roommate and..."
"Don't worry. You can think about it for as long as you want, but I know everyone would really like it if you came to live here." Brandi smiled.
"I'd like it too." Shaun said as he pulled in Brandi for a cuddle. They were just about to kiss...

When Calvin screamed to be let out of his crib.
"I bet that woke everyone up!" Shaun said.
"He must know it's his big day today." Brandi said as she got up to let Calvin out.

As she held her son, Shaun watched how Brandi gently cared for Calvin. She was an amazing mother and he imagined she would have been a wonderful wife. He knew that one day he'd let her in and get to find out what kind of a wife she was like. Maybe it wouldn't be soon, but he couldn't think of anyone who wouldn't to be with a woman like that?

Chapter Three: "Out Alone"

It was a quarter-to-three on Saturday when Alex was surprised to find Meadow on his doorstep. He brought her up to his bedroom in the loft and the two went inside.
"You still haven't told me why you wanted to come right here." Alex said, surprised at how little his chatterbox of a girlfriend was saying.
"We needed to be alone." Meadow said as she turned to look out of the window. Alex closed the door and went up behind Meadow, he wrapped his arms around her but she pulled away.
"Oh! You said you wanted to be alone." Alex was confused as Meadow looked as if she had just been violated.

"I wanted to talk with you." Meadow said with a slight anger in the tone of her voice.
"What's up?" Alex asked, unaware of her conversation with Dirk and of the news he was about to receive.