April 20-24, 01.

er-er-er-er-er-er

Julianna sat her cup of coffee on the coaster beside her on the stand beside the couch. She curled up in the blanket, pulling it tighter around her. Julianna had been single for about three months now and was still adjusting to it. She still wasn't able to sleep in the bed she had shared with Ron, let alone the room and hadn't been able to since the break up. She was currently in the middle of re-decorating their old room into a spare bedroom and the spare bedroom into her own room. Before she had slept in the spare bedroom, but now since it was being re-done, she had to sleep on the couch. She didn't mind, as long as she got the change that she so desperately needed and wanted.

Julianna and George called each other often to check up on each other, but she hadn't seen him for about two months now. She had been in Burbank for the most part and George was all over the country side, filming a new movie, so she hadn't got to see him in awhile and she was missing him, terribly. She wondered if he thought about her much other than when he made his scheduled calls. She sighed and snuggled further into the couch when the doorbell rang.

She sighed and pushed her way off the couch, into the cool air. She shivered and wrapped her arms around her. Julianna looked through the peephole of her door and didn't see anyone. Her brows knitted together in confusion and she unlocked the door. She pulled it open a crack.

"Surprise!" George called out, smiling widely at her.

"George!" She exclaimed. He chuckled and came into the house. "What are you doing here?" She asked happily.

"I was in the area for filming and I decided to drop by." George said, looking her up and down. "Did you just get out of bed?"

"Actually, I just got out of couch." Julianna giggled. George chuckled.

"That's right, you don't have a bed anymore." George said.

"Not yet, anyways. Want some coffee? I've already got some made." Julianna said. He nodded.

"Sure." He said and followed her into the kitchen. He watched as she trudged to the coffee pot in her big sweater, sweatpants, and thick warm socks. Her hair was rumpled in the back. He grinned, deciding she was the absolute cutest thing he had ever seen. She turned and saw him grinning at her.

"What?" She asked. He chuckled and took the mug from her.

"Nothing." He said. She put her hands on her hips.

"What, George?"

"I was just thinking how cute you look in that big sweater and pants and the socks that could keep you warm in the snow. You act like you live in Alaska and not California." George said. She made a face at him.

"I'm cold-blooded." She said. He nodded.

"I can see that." He said, taking a sip of the coffee.

"So...tell me about everything." Julianna said, planting her butt onto a stool and leaning onto the counter.

"Like what?" He asked.

"The movie, what've you been doing, etc, etc." Julianna said.

"The movie is coming along great. Just a few more locations. I've been...acting." George joked. She made another face at him. He chuckled lightly.

"Have you been home yet?" She asked. He shrugged and shook his head.

"No." He said.

"You mean you just came straight here from the airport?" Julianna asked. He nodded.

"Yep."

"Why?" Julianna asked.

"I had to come make sure you were really okay and not lying to me on the phone." George said, grinning.

"I'm fine, George, I've told you that." She said.

"Hearing and seeing are different things!" George said, smiling softly at her.

"I'm really doing okay, George. It's hard sometimes, but I'm managing." She said, watching his fingers trace invisible patterns over the mug.

"Are you sure? I mean, you're a good actress, you can hide things easily." George said, thinking about how she had hidden the thing with Ron so well. She smiled and rested her chin on her hand.

"I would have been 7 and a half months pregnant." Julianna said. He nodded, he had thought about that too. Often. "I'd be getting big." She sighed. "But I'm not." He reached out and touched her hand gently. She knew this was a sensitive subject for the both of them, but she hadn't talked to him about it for a long time. She needed to talk to someone about it and who better than the father of her lost child? "I want a baby." She whispered quietly. He didn't really know how to respond to that. She smiled. "I guess right now, that's kind of impossible unless I can conceive without any help." She nearly laughed, but instead her eyes filled with tears. She pulled her hand away from him and shook her head. "I'm sorry." She didn't let herself indulge in crying very often.

"Hey, no, Jule, if you need to cry, let it go." He reached out and took her hand, pulling her back towards him. "I'm here." He said.

"I can't." She said.

"Why not?" He asked, pulling himself around the counter. "Let it go." He said, moving up against her. She buried her face into his torso and wrapped her arms around his body. He leaned his cheek against the top of her head as he felt her trembling in his arms. She slowly pushed against him until she was up on her feet and was completely in his arms, her head buried into his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head then her forehead. She shivered from the feel of his lips on her scalp.

"George..." She murmured, her voice trailing off. His finger moved under her chin and he lifted her face up, towards his own. He pressed his lips against hers gently and she yielded them to him. After a few seconds, she pulled away, her eyes closed and her lips pressed together. "No...no, George. I can't do that again. Not again." She removed herself from his arms, but he held onto one of them.

"What if it's different this time?" George said. She shook her head.

"Different?" She asked. He sighed nervously.

"I don't want everything that happened last time to happen again. And it won't, I promise you that. These past 8 months, I've seen you maybe 5 times. It took me those 8 months of not seeing you, to realize I was aching because you weren't near. I didn't realize how much you meant to me, until I was away from you for so long." He paused. "I want you to come with me."

"Where?" She asked, confused now.

"I'm going to be filming for a little while longer and I still have to travel to Chicago to film some more. I want you to go with me." He said.

"George, I.."

"Jules, it wouldn't be so bad. I mean, I can be there all the time." He sighed. "I don't like leaving you alone. You're still so upset with everything that has happened. I want to be there for you. I want you with me because I hate it when I'm gone and I don't see you forever. Come with me." She giggled slightly.

"That reminded me of the episode of ER when you left." He smiled and nodded.

"I do sound like it, don't I?" He asked.

"I'll go." She whispered. His face lit up in a huge smile.

"You will?" He asked. She nodded.

"I will." He kissed her quickly before picking her up and twirling her around a little bit. She laughed and hugged his neck.

er-er-er-er-er-er

George smiled and looked down at Julianna lying in bed. He couldn't believe she had agreed to come with him, but she was here. The only thing he had wished he had done differently was to have asked her to sleep in the same bed as him. But he hadn't wanted to push her, so he let her have her own separate room in the motel that they were staying in and he stayed in the other room. In another bed.

He had just finished taking his shower and wanted to wake her up so she could go get her own. He bent over her, touching her face and shoulders, trying to wake her up.

"Jules." He murmured. She stirred.

"Uh.." She protested sleepily. He grinned.

"Jules, it's time to get up. You're late for work." He said.

"What?" She asked, opening her eyes and peering up at him. He chuckled. "I'm not going to work." She said.

"I know, but I got you up, didn't I?" He asked. She turned onto her stomach and buried her face in the pillow.

"5 more minutes." She said, her voice muffled by the pillow. He dragged her onto her back.

"Nope. Get up now." He said.

"George..." She whined.

"Julianna...." He whined in reply.

"I hate you." She moaned.

"I know." He replied, sitting on the edge of the bed and grinning. She stretched and tried to wipe the sleep from her eyes.

"I should get to sleep in. Technically this is a vacation for me."

"Bullshit. If I don't get a vacation, you don't either. Now go get a shower so I won't be late." He said. Julianna was going with him to the set so she wouldn't be alone and bored all day.

"Fine. But I get a ride." She said.

"A ride?" He asked.

"A piggy back ride to the bathroom." She said. He laughed and she grinned up at him.

"Alright." He turned his back towards her. "Hope on the Clooney Train."

"Good one, George." She said and managed to get up on his back, her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms around his neck. She leaned her forehead against the back of his head. "G'night." She said. He laughed and stood up.

"I don't think so." He said and leaned backwards.

"Whoa!" She said loudly as she felt herself sliding. He laughed as she tightened her limbs around him.

"Hold on, Annie."

"Annie?" She asked.

"Oakley. You know the famous cowgirl?" He asked. She laughed as he began galloping around the room.

"I thought this was a piggy back ride!" She exclaimed. He began to snort like a pig.

"You sound like Max!" She teased and they laughed as he ran around the room, not even heading towards the bathroom.

"I thought I had to take a shower." She said, giggling. He grinned and shook his head as he continued running around the room. Finally, he stopped at the foot of the bed, panting.

"You're heavy." He said. She laughed as he dropped her on the bed and fell onto it beside her.

"You're gonna be late for work." She said, propping her head up on her elbow.

"Ah well, let 'em worry. I've never been late to work before, I get my chance." He said. She giggled.

"Oh, that's right, I forgot, Mr. Workaholic." She teased. He chuckled and turned on his side, pushing her back on the bed and attacking her neck with his lips playfully. She squealed.

"George!"

"Tasty." He said, pulling away from her. She punched his shoulder playfully.

"That tickled."

"Oh, did it?" He asked, kissing her neck again. "Too bad I already shaved or I could give you a beard burn." She giggled and placed her hands on the back of his head, pulling his head up.

"Here." She whispered and pulled his head down towards hers and pressed her lips against his. He sighed and pushed her further onto the bed. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Tasty." She murmured, mimicking his earlier comment. He chuckled deep in his throat and ran his hands over her sides. "George?" She whispered against his lips.

"Hmm?" He replied, never letting up from the nuzzling.

"Can I convince you to be really late for work?" She asked.

"How late?" He asked and chuckled as she didn't respond to his question. She rolled over and pinned him under her.

"Real late." She said and pressed her lips against his again.

er-er-er-er-er-er

George ran his hand through his damp hair, the other on the steering wheel. He and Julianna had agreed she would come in later to work because he was already really late and she wasn't ready. He sighed and thought back on what they had done.

He had only been with her one other time. Nearly 7 and a half months ago. And that wasn't even very clear in his mind because he had been partly drunk and had tried to block it out of his mind after it had happened. But this time was fresh in his memory, in his body. And he was troubled by it all. She had suggested they use a condom, as she wasn't on the pill or anything, but he could tell it had taken a lot for her to ask him to. She hadn't wanted the barrier between them, but she must have sensed that he needed it.

He loved her, there was no doubt about it. He was in love with her and he thought she was with him too, but he wasn't sure. They had never professed their love for each other verbally, but he knew he expressed it physically and thought she did too.

He had to be with her, she was like oxygen to him. But she wanted a child...children, desperately bad and he feared in order for her to stay with him, she would demand children. He needed to talk to her about all of it, see where exactly she stood, although he was certain he already knew.

But the thing was, he was starting to doubt himself now. All his adult life he had satisfied himself with the thought that he had no urge to be a father. But now that urge was there, somehow. In all this mess the two of them had encountered in the past 8 months, his mind had somehow been gradually changed. He had never really been in love with a woman the way he was with Julianna and that changed everything in itself. And now that the only child he had ever conceived would never get to live, he had a paternal instinct to have a baby. But he was convinced he would suck at parenting. He wouldn't be home half of the year.

Sure, he liked kids, but had never thought about having his own. He liked to be able to give them back to their parents when the day was done. But he wanted to hold a baby in his arms and be able to say this baby was his own. He wanted to watch a child grow. And he knew he would somehow have to tell Julianna this.

er-er-er-er-er-er

"Are you okay?" Julianna asked George later that night.

"Why?" He asked.

"You just didn't seem okay today at work." She said. He nodded.

"I had a lot on my mind." He said, sitting on the edge of his bed in the hotel room beside her. She bowed her head, seemingly already knowing what this was about.

"Me too." She murmured.

"We need to talk about this." He said. She nodded.

"I know." She replied. They sat silently, neither of them knowing exactly where or how to start.

"I love you." He said quietly, deciding to take the direct approach. He watched her as he said this. Her head jerked up and she looked at him, her hazel eyes gazing into his chocolate ones. She paused.

"I love you too." She whispered. Both of them grinned and he leaned forward, kissing her gently, his finger stroking her cheek. Finally she pulled away and sighed, looking down again. She moved her arms so that her hands were gripping the edge of the bed. "I guess that just makes things more complicated."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"This children issue." She said. He nodded silently but before he could speak, she spoke up. "I want a baby, George and I know you don't. I understand and I respect that. I don't expect you to give me a child. But I am going to have a baby one way or another. And I want one soon. Maybe not today and maybe not tomorrow, but I'd like to be pregnant soon." She paused but he was too stunned to speak. "I want to get artificial insemination."

"What?" He asked, shocked now.

"Even if I don't know who the father of my baby would be, I could still have one from a donor. I've read up on it these past few months because ever since....the miscarriage, and I'm set on having a child. I have a maternal instinct that's rearing to take over." She paused again and this time he took advantage of her break.

"Wait." He said. She stopped and glanced briefly at him. "Let me talk for a minute, okay?" He asked. She nodded, somewhat embarrassed. "I don't want to hear you talk about artificial insemination anymore, alright?" He asked. She looked up at him, her mouth dropped open in surprise. He could see she was about to get angry, but he spoke too quickly. "I want to have a child." That stunned her into silence. He watched her briefly as her face changed to a blank look.

"No, George, I don't want you to feel pressured, that was not why I brought that up.." She tried to continue but he took her hands into his.

"I don't feel pressured. Just listen." He said. She looked up at him. "Since we lost..him, I've wondered what it would have been like, y'know? I've been fighting this just as you have, Jules, and I came to the conclusion that even though all my adult life I've said I never want to have children, I was just kidding myself. I don't think I'd be a good Dad. I work too much and I'm practically irresponsible with my own life and I always thought that was a good enough reason to not become a father. But I have that paternal instinct that is rearing to take over." He grinned and watched her intently. "And I realized that another reason that it wants to take over is because for the first time in my life, I am completely, hopelessly in love and I am ready to settle down and have a family." He paused. "With you. If you're willing." She stared at him, her mouth dropped open in surprise.

"I....wow, George, that's....Wow." She said. He chuckled softly and rubbed his thumb over her finger. She broke out into a wide grin before she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him enthusiastically, multiple times in a row. He chuckled and hugged her tightly to him, feeling her body tremble with something near giddiness. "I love you so much!" She said, unbelieving that her life was turning out this way. 8 months ago she would have laughed like a lunatic had she ever heard George say any of the things he had just said to her. Instead she was laughing from sheer happiness.

er-er-er-er-er-er

Next