When Laura wakes up in her new home the morning after she arrives back from Al Simhara, her plans for the day are disrupted by the sudden need to dash to the loo. Ugh. She feels awful, and has no idea why. Food poisoning, maybe? Not pleasant, whatever it is! But still, she has things to do, so she heads into town.
Her first stop is the City Hall, where she registers as a self-employed photographer. She's just starting out, but she's confident that she'll be able to do well and make plenty of money! It'll take time, that's all. Whilst she's there she looks at the notice boards to see if anyone is looking for a photographer and she finds a couple of potential jobs. She phones up about one of them, and is hired. Her first assignment is for a metal band who need some creepy graveyard photos for their new album cover. Creepy graveyard photos. Hmmmm.... Laura reckons she can manage that!
She did have a few other errands to run, but she's really not feeling well so she heads home. She calls Yousseff to ask him if he's had any symptoms of food poisoning or flu or whatever it is, but he's fine. He says he can't talk for long as he's meeting a friend, and promptly hangs up. Laura decides to go for a nap, maybe that'll help her feel better.
And sure enough, by the evening she feels much better. Well enough to head out to Eldridge Graveyard and take some creepy photos! She posts them to the metal band, hoping that they'll be happy with them and will pay her the $50 they'd promised her. $50 certainly isn't much, but it's a start.....
When she gets home that night she finally twigs why she's been feeling so unwell lately. A baby is on its way.... It has to be Yousseff's, so she phones him up to tell him. It turns out that he'd already suspected that she may be pregnant and is on his way to Redwood Harbour. He'll be there in the morning.
By the time he arrives the next day Laura has been to the hospital to confirm that she is pregnant. When Yousseff turns up she tells him that she is definitely pregnant. He is shocked, but accepts that he is also responsible. He offers to "do the right thing" and marry Laura, but she declines. She wasn't brought up to believe that you have to be married to have a baby, and she's not committing her life to a man she hardly knows. Whether or not Yousseff wants to be part of the baby's life, she knows that she will love her child and will do the best for him or her.
Yousseff wanders off for a while to think, and when he comes back he asks Laura if he can live with her if he moves to Redwood Harbour. He wants to be around to support her, and he doesn't want his child to grow up without a father. Laura says that he would be very welcome to live with her, and they'll see how it goes.
Yousseff makes a few calls, to organise having his house and belongings sold, and that's that - Laura no longer lives alone! The baby's not due for a while, so they will have time for Yousseff to settle in and for the two of them to get used to each other.
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