Outside the school, the day heartbreakingly bright. Manny noticed how the sun hit the side of the school. She stood there, hugging herself. Emma stood in front of her. Craig had taken off.

"I don't know, Em," she said, her eyes shiny with tears, "I don't know if I can have an abortion,"

Emma's hard look cracked, and she tilted her head.

"Manny, you can do it. You can have this baby. My mom had me and she was younger than you. We'll help you even if your parents won't. And Craig seems to be…supportive,"

The tears spilled down her cheeks, and Manny wiped them away. Craig and Emma and Spike aside, she'd still have to tell her father. She didn't think she could do that.

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Craig sat in his room, refusing to come out for supper or for anything. He was making Joey worried. Joey stood outside the door, aware of how little he really knew about this kid. Before, when Julia was alive, Julia dealt with him. And he lived with his father. Now his parents were dead and he was here. Joey leaned his head on the door, worrying about drugs and alcohol and the effects of Albert's abuse, the effects of his parents' early deaths. He thought of Wheels, his friend from school. His parents had died and he remembered watching Wheels fall apart.

"Craig! Open the door!"

"Leave me alone,"

Joey sighed. He couldn't. He was responsible for him now.

"Craig, I mean it! Open this door, now!" Unaware that he had almost perfectly mimicked Albert on that fateful day that Craig had run away, Joey pounded his fist on the door causing Craig to tense his muscles and suck in his breath, feeling for an instant that he was back in his old room and Albert was pounding on the door.

"Shit," Craig mumbled under his breath, recognizing this flashback reaction that happened from time to time, making him feel like time was going backwards, making him feel crazy. He stood up and opened the door, not wanting Joey to continue to pound on it and make him remember.

"What is going on with you?" Joey said, relatively calm, and Craig closed his eyes, thinking of how his father would have grabbed his shirt or his wrists and shoved him back, and hit him…

"Nothing. I'm fine, really,"

Joey looked at him with doubt in his eyes but understood that whatever it was, Craig wasn't ready to tell him. He was just glad that he had finally opened the door.

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"I don't think Manny is going to have that abortion after all," Emma said to her mother, the smile in her eyes and voice unmistakable. Spike frowned.

"She's not?" she said softly, and thought of the hard road ahead for Manny if that was the choice she was making. Emma narrowed her eyes at her mother, sensing Spike's regret about having had a child so young.

"No, she's probably not. Isn't that good news?" Emma challenged, and Spike looked away.

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It was now or never, Manny thought. Tell him now. She watched her father eat, saw the lights in the kitchen gleam off of his short black hair, watched as he spoke to her mother. Tell him now, she thought at herself. Never seemed an easier choice. How could she tell him? What would he do? Disown her? Send her away? Hit her? All were possibilities. She put some food into her mouth and chewed it slowly. She couldn't possibly tell him. How could she?