1.

Diane Evans stood over one of the kitchen counters as she put on a pot of coffee. Phillip stood on the other end with the newspaper in front of him.

"Talk to her," said Phillip. "You're both women, she'll listen to you."

"And say what Phillip: You're our daughter Isabel and we love you but we can't help notice that you're gaining a little weight?"

"A little, she's gained a lot in just a matter of a couple weeks."

"Phillip, keep your voice down," Diane said as she handed her husband a cup of coffee. He took it along with the paper over to the kitchen table leaving his brief case on the counter.

The two continued their morning routine in silence for five minutes when Max and Isabel walked in.

"Morning you two," said Diane. "How about some breakfast?"

Isabel unintentionally placed her hands over her stomach. "I'm not really hungry."

"Oh okay, Max?"

"I'm actually meeting Liz for brunch later."

"Oh," said Diane sounding disappointed.

Max and Isabel looked at each other. They could feel the tension in the room.

"Is something wrong," Isabel asked turning to face their parents.

"You tell us," said Phillip.

Diane got up and walked over to her kids placing her hand on Isabel's. Isabel moved her hands in front of her so her mother wouldn't feel the bump beneath them.

"Honey, we love you no matter what so we don't want you to take this the wrong way."

"We're just worried about you that's all," said Phillip.

"You don't… you don't have to be," said Isabel trying to sound reassuring.

Diane tried to force a smile. "Honey, we've just noticed that… that you've put on a little weight."

"A lot of weight," added Phillip.

Diane turned to her husband. "Phillip."

"It's not normal, at least not for you," he added.

Diane turned back to her daughter. "We're just concerned that's all."

Isabel looked at Max with fear in her eyes. She knew this was it. He placed a hand on her back as a way to comfort her. She took a deep breath and took a seat across from her father. Max got a glass of water and placed it in front of his sister and then sat on her left side.

Taking a sip of water Isabel took a deep breath.

"There's a reason I'm gaining weight," she started. "I'm…"

Isabel had to take another deep breath to keep her tears at bay. It wasn't so much that she was ashamed of the life inside her, little by little she had begun to welcome it especially when Michael's joy seemed to somehow flow into her. It was the fact that the moment she spoke the words it would change everything. The world wasn't too kind on teen pregnancy and she knew her parents place on the issue.

Time and time again they had the sex talks and they warned them both about getting pregnant, in Max' case getting a girl pregnant. They weren't as harsh on the issue as some parents but still like all parents the last thing they wanted for their children was to become parents themselves.

Max and Isabel always listened especially given the fact that they were not familiar with their own sex drives or their reproductive systems but at the same that's what made this so difficult: before it happened they didn't know how they could get pregnant. And now all of them were forced to live another lie given that the baby hadn't been conceived in a normal fashion.

Isabel finally composed herself. "I'm… you're going to be… I'm pregnant," she said having at last put off the inevitable.

After what felt like a long moment of silence Phillip was the first to speak up. "Is this some kind of joke," he asked.

"You're telling us you're pregnant," added Diane, "So you're weight isn't that big of an issue here is that it?"

Isabel wiped away some tears as Max rubbed her back.

"It's not a joke," said Isabel.

Phillip looked at his son. "I take it you knew about this?" Max nodded. "How long?" He looked at Isabel feeling uncomfortable about the next words to come out of his mouth. "How far along are you?"

Isabel crossed her arms over her stomach. Now that her secret was out in the open there was no point in hiding it.

"Two months," she said to him.

She could see her parents eyes widen and could only imagine what they were thinking. Why had she waited so long? She had only one month left to consider having an abortion, at least that's probably what her parents were thinking. Why wait till now when her weight was starting to get noticed?

Phillip couldn't take this sitting down anymore. He looked at his children. "You knew your sister was in trouble and you didn't think to tell us?"

"It was my decision not to tell you," said Max not wanting Isabel to take all the blame.

"But why Max," Diane asked not fully understanding.

"We needed time to think this over ourselves," was all he said. He wouldn't get into the fight he and Isabel had.

"Who else knows about this," asked Diane.

"Our whole group," said Isabel, "Michael, Tess, Liz, Maria, and Alex. And I think people at school are starting to suspect something."

"Sheriff Valenti also knows," Max added.

This was too much for Phillip to handle. "How is it that Jim knows before we do?"

"He overheard us talking," Isabel said going along with the lie that the group came up with a couple weeks ago.

"And that Whitman boy," said Phillip, "You said he knows."

"Alex isn't the baby's father."

Phillip and Diane couldn't believe this was happening. It continued to be one shock after another.

"Then who is," asked Phillip.

"Michael."

This was the final straw. Phillip walked over and got his brief case. "I'm late for work."

Diane looked at him. "Phillip can't you take today off?"

"I don't have anyone to cover me," he lied.

"Daddy," said Isabel.

"We'll talk later," he said leaving through the back door and shutting it behind him.

Diane placed a hand on her daughter's. "You're father just needs some time to cool off. He's overwhelmed right now."

Isabel just nodded but said nothing. Diane shook her head. "Aw honey, how could this happen?"

Isabel sighed knowing she would have to lie. "We hadn't meant for it to."

"We'll we've still got a little time to decide at least."

Isabel looked at her mother directly. "There's nothing to decide. I'm keeping this baby."

"Isabel…"

"If you can't accept my decision that's fine, I have made other arrangements."

"Isabel got a job tutoring high school and middle school," said Max. "And Michael offered Isabel to move in."

"You'd be willing to move out?" asked Diane.

"I don't want to but I'm just letting you know that I've thought this through."

"In that case do you have a doctor?"

"Ed Harding," said Max.

"Tess' father? I thought he was a private contractor for the government."

"We've gotten to know him," said Max. "Turns out he has a degree in medicine," Max said which wasn't far from the truth.

Nasedo had many trades and during some of that time he had studied the medical books, though he didn't need them since his medical knowledge went far beyond that of human medicine. Still he even prepared himself in the field of gynecology incase one of the female hybrids happened to get pregnant.

"I trust him," said Isabel. "If you don't want me to stay then I'll leave."

Diane looked at her daughter unsure of what to say. It had gone from a normal morning to a day that was spiraling out of control.