SEMPRE

August 20th

Cat let out a small breath as Robbie's lips pressed against her neck. She'd be lying if she denied that it felt good. Her neck contained her sweet spot. The spot that drove her crazy and he knew it. He did it on purpose, just to arouse her, and tonight, it was working extra fast. She didn't know if it was because she was finally ready to take that next big step with her boyfriend, or if it was because she was genuinely aroused, but whatever it was, she liked it. As his lips moved along her neck, her hand raised and her fingers slid through his curly hair as she let out a soft moan when his hips pressed into hers as she was laid on her bed. She knew there was a bit of nervousness there somewhere.

She and Robbie had slept together once before. It was two years ago, after the sophomore dance. They went back to Robbie's place, they were a little drunk, and they had sex. They both remembered it and they both admitted that it wasn't a horrible first time, but they vowed to never have sex again because they were best friends. That was then. This is now. Then, they were best friends so sex would have been awkward past the first time. Now they were a couple and had been talking about having their "first time" for a few months now. They'd just celebrated their year anniversary and decided that the next "big" step they'd take was sex, but as a couple instead of as friends.

Her hips grinded into his gently as his lips traveled from her neck to her collar bone, to which they then traveled back up to nibble on her earlobe and back to that spot he was focused on that was dangerously close to her sweet spot.

Why did they think that sex was a good idea in the middle of a party that her sister was throwing? Simple. Everyone else was downstairs and they were upstairs in her room with the door locked. Well... hopefully the door was locked, anyways.

His hands sliding down her sides felt good. In fact, anytime he touched her, she felt electrified. It was surreal. Just like this moment in time.

As his hands crept up her skirt and his thumbs hooked into the sides of her panties, she lifted her bottom up a little so he could slide them off of her. As she saw the pink blur of them fly across the room, she let her eyes close and she just enjoyed the sensation he was giving her just by running his fingers over her nether region over her skirt.

"Mm..." she moaned lightly.

"Good?" Robbie whispered.

She nodded. "Oh, yeah..."

"It's about to get a lot better," he spoke before kissing down her chest.

October 23rd

9 weeks later

"How are you feeling, honey?" Tara Valentine asked her daughter.

Cat sniffled, shaking her head. "Horrible. I just puked my life way."

"Does that mean you just flushed your life down the toilet?" Her sister asked with a laugh.

Cat glared at her for a few seconds. "I hope you catch the flu."

"Don't be mad at me because I decided to get vaccinated."

"I don't like needles!" Cat whined.

"Don't whine," Tara said. "April, leave your sister alone."

It was almost hard to believe that they were even related. Cat with her red and normally flat ironed-and-then-curled hair, April with her natural curly-from-the-root brunette hair. Cat with her bubbly personality and not-so-smart moments, April with her more mellow personality and her annoyingly intelligent moments. The only thing that made it known that they were even related was that they looked exactly alike in the face due to being identical twins.

"Well, if you're up to it, we can run to urgent care. We might sit there a while but they might be able to give you something to make you feel better," Tara said.

Cat thought for a few seconds before nodding. "I don't care, I'm just tired of feeling horrible. No one pukes for a week straight without being some sort of deathly sick."

"Or other options," April said.

"You hush," Tara said. "Go get your shoes on and we'll go. April, you're coming too, get up."

"What? Why me?" she asked with a whine.

"Because you're giving your sister a hard time and I don't trust you."

"Why not?"

"Last time Mom was out of the house you threw a party," Cat reminded her.

"No one got hurt."

"Children got drunk," Tara said. "And had sex in my house."

Cat walked away, in search of her shoes and April glared after her for a second.

"Something's not right with that girl," April said.

"Yeah, that's why we're going to urgent care, honey; keep up."

Cat groaned, walking out of the urgent care bathroom. She'd just thrown up for the second time and she felt miserable. She desperately wanted to feel better.

"Caterina Valentine," a nurse called.

"That's me," Cat said.

"Follow me."

Tara and April stood up, following Cat and the nurse down a hallway and into an examination room.

"Alright, take a step up here on the scale," the nurse said.

Cat stepped up onto the scale and she watched the numbers. She was used to getting her weight checked, but what she wasn't used to was the number it displayed when it finally stopped.

"132," the nurse said.

"Holy chipotle," Cat said. "I've never been over 120, are you sure that's the right weight?"

"We can try it again if you'd like. Step off and step back on."

Cat did as she was told and sighed when the number showed up the same.

"132," the nurse repeated. "Maybe you just gained a little summer weight. Don't worry about it, it's perfectly normal. If you'll sit up here on the table, I need to check your blood pressure and temperature."

Cat stepped off of the scale and pulled herself up onto the table. A black cuff was placed on her arm and the nurse was silent while she took it.

"142 over 93," the nurse said as she removed the cuff from Cat's arm.

"That's a bit high for a sixteen-year-old isn't it?" Tara asked.

"It is, but I'm sure her not feeling well has something to do with it. I just need to check your temp now," she said as she grabbed a thermometer. "Under the tongue."

It only took a few seconds for her temp to read out.

"98.7, perfectly normal. Now, can you tell me what your symptoms are?" The nurse asked as she grabbed a clipboard.

"Um..." Cat sniffed. "I've been getting headaches a lot. A couple times a day, actually."

"How long has this been going on?"

"About a week or so."

"Alright. I see you stated you've been vomiting, how long has that been going on?"

"About the same, a week."

"Any fatigue or tiredness?"

"A lot."

"Any aches or pains?"

"My boobs have been really sore lately, but I figured it's just because I don't feel very good."

"Alright. When was your last period?"

"A couple wee..." Cat trailed off. "Hm..."

"You don't remember?"

"No... April, when was your last period?"

"I got off Wednesday," April said.

"I didn't get mine. What about the one before that?"

"It ended the 20th, I think."

"That was around what, the party?"

"Yeah."

"...I didn't get that one either."

The nurse nodded. "Alright. I'm gonna have you follow me to our blood lab and take a few blood tests and I'm gonna have you take a urine sample, alright? Mom and sister can stay here or come with you."

"I'd rather do it by myself," Cat said, carefully getting off of the table.

"Alright. Just follow me, it won't take long."

Fifteen minutes later, Cat was back in the room, this time dressed in a medical gown, sitting on the table and swinging her feet back and forth. April had climbed up with her to play with her hair, and a few minutes later a doctor walked in with a machine.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Wilson," the doctor said with a bright smile. "Woah. Double trouble. Which one of you is Caterina?"

"Me," Cat said.

"Alright. I'm gonna ask Twin B to hop down so I can get you looked at, alright? If you could just lay back on the table and lift your gown up above your belly I can take a look."

Cat let out a small breath and laid back, pulling the gown up and letting it rest just below her breasts.

April snorted. "Nice panties," she muttered about her sister's Hello Kitty printed underwear.

"Shut up, at least I wear panties," Cat snapped.

"Hey," Tara said. "Cool it, she was just joking. Leave your sister alone, she doesn't feel good," she said, tapping April's arm.

"Alright, I'm gonna put this gel on your stomach," Dr. Wilson said. "It's gonna be cold."

As Dr. Wilson squirted the gel on her stomach, Cat's eyes widened.

"Oh my god," Cat said. "That's not cold, that's freezing."

"I'm sorry," she said with a small laugh.

It was silent for about a minute until a loud whooshing sound emitted from the machine.

"What's that?" Cat asked.

"Oh my god," Tara and April said together.

"Cat, did you ever get those blood and urine results?" Dr. Wilson asked.

"No, they haven't brought them to me yet," Cat said. "What's wrong? Am I okay?"

"You're fine," she said, turning towards Tara. "How stable will she be to hear this?"

"Give it to her cold, she's the one that fucked up," April said, earning a smack on the arm from Tara.

"She'll be fine," Tara said.

"What's going on?" Cat asked.

"Cat, the sound you hear on this machine is a fetal heartbeat," Dr. Wilson said.

"What? A what? What's that?"

"It's the heartbeat of a fetus."

"Like... a baby?"

"Exactly."

"Well, how's that possible? I don't have a baby."

"Your blood and urine samples... and this monitor say you do."

"What?"

"You're knocked up," April said.

"What?!" Cat shrieked.

"Calm down, honey," Tara said. "Stop freaking her out, April Celine."

"I'm pregnant?"

"That's what all of the results say," Dr. Wilson said.

"But, I... I'm sixteen! I can't have a baby, I am a baby!"

"Calm down," Tara said. "We'll talk when we get home, okay? Calm down, let Dr. Wilson finish your ultrasound, and we'll go home and we'll talk."

Cat whimpered as tears filled her eyes, and she looked at the monitor. "...Is that it?" she asked.

Dr. Wilson turned the monitor towards Cat a little more and repositioned the remote on her belly to get a better picture. She pointed to the screen. "This faint outline right here is the water sac. And this mass right here," she pointed inside the bubble, "is your baby. You're about 9 weeks along."

"That's real?"

"As real as you and me."

"Sometimes I don't think I'm real."

"You're very real and so is your baby. I'm gonna get the pictures printed off and I'll have them at the front desk for you, okay?" Dr. Wilson said, wiping Cat's stomach off with a rag. "I know this is really unsettling news, but you'll figure it out. I promise."

As soon as the Valentine girls got home, Tara ordered April to go to her room while Cat made a beeline for the bathroom. As soon as she was recovered from the umpteenth vomiting episode that day, she met her mother upstairs in her own bedroom and laid down on her bed as Tara laid behind her and kissed her head.

"Do you have any questions?" Tara asked.

Cat sniffled. "I don't understand," her voice cracked. "I thought we were so careful..."

"Sometimes protection doesn't work the way it should, sweetheart... but, this is exactly the reason I tell you girls to tell me if you're sexually active. I know it's embarrassing to talk about with your mom, but I would rather know that you have birth control and protection to prevent this stuff from happening."

"We didn't use protection..."

"Well, then that's how this happened. Why wouldn't you protect yourself?"

"Because, the first time we had sex this didn't happen. We were just fine. And - and he pulled out before he... Mommy, I'm so scared," she sobbed.

"I know, honey," Tara said, hugging her from behind. "But now you know, the pull out method doesn't work. If it did, your brother wouldn't be here," she said, hoping to lighten the mood.

"I'm gonna be made fun of in school... More than people already do. I'm the stupid redhead girl that's best friends with a purple giraffe, now I'm going to be the stupid redhead girl that got pregnant her senior year of high school and ruined her entire life."

"Hey... I know it seems like that right now, but you did not ruin your life. You changed it. I had your brother when I was still in high school."

"Yeah that helps a ton Mom, he's psycho."

"He's special. Not psycho."

"He yells at the stairs."

"Well, they keep making him fall, I'd yell at them too if they were bullies to me."

Cat sniffled and turned around to face her mother, burying her face into her chest. "How come you're not yelling at me?"

"Because I know first hand that yelling doesn't change the fact that there's a baby growing in there. Yelling doesn't change the past. Yelling doesn't change anything, it would just make me seem like a mean, judgmental, hypocritical mom. I'd rather be level headed and supportive."

"Jade's mom would have screamed at her."

"I'm not Grace West."

"Thank god..."

"You need to let Robbie know. It's Robbie's, isn't it?"

Cat nodded. "Yeah..."

"Is there anything you wanna know?"

"Is it gonna hurt when I give birth?"

Tara nodded. "Yeah. But, it's all worth it. I promise."

"I'm gonna die during childbirth, I hate pain..."

"Hey. I gave birth to you and your sister without meds naturally. If I can get through that, then you can get through having one. Dr. Wilson didn't say anything about it being twins, so you're already lucky. You had more chance having twins since you are one."

"Thank god... I hope April gets cursed with twins. She'd deserve that pain."

"I heard that!" April shouted from the other side of the door.