Those Few Months

by Fallen Ark Angel

Auden's pregnant. She learns that not all of it is fun.

1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Driving down to Colby again wasn't what I had in mind for my weekend. I needed to though. What I had to say to Eli wasn't over the phone conversation.

I was going to stop by Heidi's first to see her and Thisbe, but they weren't home. So, instead, I went looking for Eli. First, I stopped by his apartment, but he wasn't there. I drove past Abe's Bikes, but didn't go in because his truck wasn't around and I didn't want to deal with the other guys. Eventually, I gave up searching by car and parked somewhere before looking for him by foot.

When I finally did locate him, Eli was walking around the beach, talking on his cell phone. I saw him from a few feet away and made my journey towards him a slow one. Now that I had him in my sights, I was afraid about what had to happen next.

"-no, I don't think so. Yeah. I mean, Adam…I don't really want to move. No. No. Not really. It's just…I've always lived in C-" He paused when he saw me coming his way and turned his back to me. "I'll call you back. Yeah."

"Eli?" I kept walking until we were feet from each other. "We, uh, need to talk."

Turning back to face me, he shrugged. His silence is always nice when we're together, but when we're broken up and I have to deal with him, I hate it.

"I just think that we need to talk about us," I said, stalling as I turned and walked away. Eli followed me, still not speaking. Taking a deep breath, I went on. "I mean, when we broke up...I…I mean...I haven't been doing much without you. Have you been doing stuff?"

He shrugged, making me roll my eyes.

"Well, if neither of us are doing anything-"

"Why are you here?"

"What?" I stopped.

"Why are you here?" He paused in his walking. "Huh? Because I know that it's not to be with me, so stop playing."

"I'm not, Eli. I…Something happened, okay?"

He stared into my eyes. "I'm listening."

"Eli."

"Auden, either tell me or don't. I have things going on too. Stuff happened to me too. I have a life too. Things are still the same, Auden. I'm not going to put my life on hold to be with you, just like I told you before. Alright?"

Now he had kind of hurt me and I didn't care about making this as easy as possible. "Eli, I'm pregnant."

Then all I could hear were the waves. For a minute at least. Then Eli spoke.

"Really?"

"Yeah." I looked down at the ground, now embarrassed. "Three and a half months."

He took a deep breath. "Goes without saying it's mine then?"

"What?"

Laughing a little, he said, "It was a joke. I mean, I figured it was."

I snorted, still not looking at him. "It's yours."

Taking a moment, he nodded before turning and beginning to walk again. "Alright."

What? Frowning, I hurried to follow him. "What does that mean?"

"It means what I said. Alright."

"Eli-"

"Have you been seeing someone, Auden?"

"Have you?"

"I asked first."

"And I'm not going to answer."

"Then I don't want to talk to you."

"Eli, you broke up with me."

"And all I want to know is if you're with anyone."

"Why? It's still your baby in me."

"So you have," he said, now walking faster.

"No, actually, I haven't. I just don't see how it's any of your business." I was having to run after him now. "Eli, stop."

Huffing, he finally turned to face me and let me catch up. "I'm going back to my place. You can come or stay here. I don't care."

It was a silent walk back to Eli's apartment. When we got there, he pulled out his cell phone, as he had gotten a text. I stood there awkwardly, not knowing my place here anymore. Eli looked up from his phone after a minute.

"You can sit down, Auden." He nodded at the bed before going back to texting. I listened to him, though I only sat on the edge, still watching him.

"You, uh, hungry?" He asked after a minute.

"What?"

"Hungry. Or are you still in the throwing up phase? Because I'm not good with puke."

"I'm not hungry."

Shrugging, he stood there for another minute before putting his phone away. "So."

"Yeah." I sat there, staring at the wall. "I answered you. I haven't seen anyone. Have you?"

"Last two weeks, I've been seeing this girl. Nothing exclusive."

"Oh."

Eli nodded a little. "How long have you know? That you were pregnant I mean?"

"Two weeks. I was going to call you but…I figured it'd be better to come see you to tell you."

"I'm glad. That you came to see me, I mean. It's…good to see you, Auden."

"Same."

Slowly, he went to sit down next to me on the bed. "So…you haven't even been on one date?"

"No. I've been busy."

"And pregnant."

"And that."

Laughing a little, he turned to look at me. "You've been to the doctor?"

"Yes."

Again, he nodded his head before reaching out and wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I laid my head against him, sniffling a little.

"What?"

"Nothing," I whispered. "Just...What does this mean for us?"

"What do you want it to mean?"

Not knowing how to answer that, I changed the question. "Are you...mad at me?"

"For?"

"This."

"Auden." He kissed my head. "No. It's…just a lot to take in."

"I know."

"A baby," he whispered. "Damn."

"Yeah."

Running his hand up and down my shoulder, he mumbled something that I couldn't hear. I just groaned a little, closing my eyes.

"I was serious about the no puke thing, Auden."

"It's my head, Eli. I have a headache."

"You don't sleep enough."

"Oh? And you do?"

"No, but I don't complain." He stood up. "Lay down."

"E-"

"Lay down, Auden. Take a nap."

"What are you going to do?"

He shook his head, going to sit down in the chair in the room. "Nothing. That's all I do all day. Nothing."

I laid down slowly, kicking the covers down so that I could pull them back up around me. His bed still felt good to me.

"It's Thursday."

"I know."

"So on Saturday then?"

"On Saturday what?" He asked, pulling out his cell phone again.

"You and this girl. Are you going to see her then?"

"Auden-"

"No, no. It's a question, Eli."

"I'm not going to be messing with someone while you're pregnant, alright? Not unless I know one hundred percent that the chances of us being together are dead. Are they?"

"I don't think so," I whispered.

"Me neither." He paused for a second. "That's what we are, Auden. We're a break up, get back together couple. That's why I never get serious about someone else."

I let his words be the end of the conversation as I finally fell asleep. It was about two hours later that a door shutting woke me up. He was coming in with a bag of burgers.

"Hungry?"

I just groaned. "Where'd you go?"

"Got lunch. And I had to drop your sister off at Heidi's."

"What?"

"She was at the bike shop with Adam. She likes spending time up there with us." He smiled a little, giving me the bag of food.

"You still spend time with my sister?"

"Of course. Just because me and you broke up doesn't mean that I can just ignore her, you know."

"Sometimes I think you care more about Thisbe than me."

"I do."

Rolling my eyes, I sat up. "Thanks for lunch."

"No problem. I'll expect you to pay me back."

"Ha ha."

Eli climbed over me to get into bed. "You're in my spot, you know."

"I know."

"I'll let you stay for now." He reached into the bag and pulled out his food before beginning to eat.

"Can I stay here while I'm in Colby?"

"Are we back together?" He asked me with food in his mouth.

"I guess, but…Never mind."

We ate in silence before both laying on the bed, Eli holding me.

"It's been awhile, Auden."

"Almost four months."

"And all this time, you had the baby in your stomach." He patted it. "You're not even showing."

"I am a little."

"I guess." He ran his hand up and down my stomach before kissing me. "You want to?"

Not really, but I knew that he did. Turing, I let him begin to kiss me, allowing his hands to start running up and down my sides.

"Auden," he whispered as he pulled away from me, pushing my shirt up. His hands were kind of cold and I squirmed a little.

"What?"

"Nothing," I said, shaking my head. Eli kissed me again quickly before speaking.

"You alright? You look pale."

"I'm fine."

"Are-"

"Eli, do you want to or not?"

"I just don't want you to puke on me."

"Well, I'm not going to, okay?"

Taking a deep breath, he went back to kissing me. This wasn't about puke. I don't think he really wanted to have sex. I didn't know why though.

It was quick, but I wasn't shocked. We hadn't been together in a few months and we both needed it. Well, I was.

"Did you?"

Eli had been stroking my arm. "Huh?"

"With that woman you've been seeing. You slept with her, right?"

"Why?"

"Eli, did you?"

Taking a deep breath, he let it out slow. "No, Auden."

"Sure." I moved away from him a little, but Eli just moved with me.

"Why do you not believe me?"

"Because…I don't know."

Eli didn't seem to care much for my doubts. I think that he was still thinking about me being pregnant.

"When can I tell people?"

"About what?"

"The baby, Auden."

I glanced at him. "I haven't said anything to anyone in Colby."

"Trust me, I know. If you had, it would have already gotten back to me." He looked at my stomach. "You got any pictures?"

"Of what?"

"The baby. Like…an ultrasound picture."

"Why? Do you not believe me?"

"Auden." He kissed me again. "Do you?"

"In my car."

"Where's your car?"

"Parked somewhere around here. I can't remember."

"Great." He kissed me again. "If you give me your keys, I'll go find it."

"Why are you so worried about it? Besides, I know where it is, I just don't the street name."

"I just want something to do, Auden." He sat up. "I…My mind's killing me right now."

"Why?"

"The baby, Auden. I'm not…I'm still shocked, alright?" He got out of bed. "I'm gonna, uh, get some air. You wanna come?"

"No."

He shrugged. "Stay then. I'll be back soon. There's, uh, food, if you get hungry."

"No puking though, right?"

He just laughed a little before heading out.

---

After Eli left, I got dressed before getting his laptop out to check the news. I was still doing that when there was a knock on the door. I was going to get up, but then the door just opened.

"El- Oh."

I stared at his mother. "Hi."

"Is Eli here?"

I shook my head. "No. He went out."

"Oh." She walked into the apartment, closing the door behind her. "I didn't know that you were in town, Auden."

"Just for the weekend."

"So you and Eli are…speaking again?"

I hadn't given him much of a choice. "Yes."

"That's good. Have you seen Heidi since you came down?"

"No. I was going to today."

She nodded. "She's been doing really well, these past few months."

Last time I was in Colby, she was still broken up about her divorce from my father. I smiled a little.

"That's good."

"Yes, it is."

Eli broke the awkward silence that we had fallen into by coming back. "Alright, Auden, I found your car and got your stuff-"

"What?" I forgot that his mom was there for a moment. "Eli, I told you not too. How did you get in?"

"I took your keys when you weren't looking."

"You mean stole?"

He saw his mom then and frowned a little. "Hi, Mom. What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you about something. Alone."

Standing up, I went and took my keys back from Eli. "I need to go see Heidi anyways."

When I got out to my car, which Eli had driven over to his place, I immediately had to change my seat. Eli messed with it every single time I let him drove. That's why we normally rode in his truck. After fixing my chair, I headed straight to Heidi's, but she wasn't home. Turning around, I went to Clementine's.

"Auden!" Thisbe, who was sitting on the floor playing with her toys, ran to come hug me. I smiled down at her.

"Hey, Isby." I looked behind the counter and saw Heidi. "Hey."

She smiled brightly at me, coming over to give me a hug. I let her, if only because I hadn't seen her in so long.

"Saw Eli," Thisbe told me to which her mother frowned.

"Thisbe-"

"It's okay," I said, patting her on the head. "I saw Eli too."

"Did you?" Heidi smiled a little. "So did you like what you saw?"

"No more than usual."

"So no good news on that front?"

I wasn't sure what the answer to that was, so I just shrugged. "Anyways, I just wanted to tell you that I was in town for the weekend."

"Go beach?" Thisbe looked up at me and I nodded a little.

"Yeah. Or something like that. Tomorrow, okay?"

I talked to them for a few more minutes before going back outside. I was headed to my car when I saw Eli. He was across the street, talking to Wallace. Waving at me, he nodded his head, trying to get me to go over there.

"Hey, Auden," Wallace said as I came towards them. "Didn't know you were back."

"Just for the weekend," I told him, coming to stand next to Eli. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders, like we were a couple again. I think we were. I'm not sure. Eli talked with Wallace for another minute before walking me to my car and getting in on the passengers side.

"Well?"

I frowned, also getting in. "Well what?"

"The picture."

Groaning, I reached into the backseat for my bag before digging around. I pulled out an ultrasound photo and gave it to him.

"There. Now do you believe me?"

"Never doubted you," he whispered, taking it. For a moment, neither of us spoke as he stared at the photo. We were disturbed by a tapping on the window. Frowning, he opened his car door.

"Eli!" Thisbe was standing on the other side. "Sees you outside. No work?"

"No." He pocketed the photo. "Where's Heidi?"

She pointed back at the store I was parked in front of her. "Her work."

"Yeah, she's good at that."

Thisbe waved at me, but was clearly more concerned with Eli. He had babysat for her since he dropped out of college again, which was back when she was still a baby. Now three, she very much enjoyed all time she got to spend with him.

"I come play with Eli?"

"Not today. Me and Auden need to talk about some stuff." He smiled at her, something that he didn't do a lot for me. "Tomorrow though-"

"See Auden tom'ra."

"You are? I can be there too. I only work for a little bit."

"Ya!"

"Thisbe!"

We all looked up as Heidi stuck her head out of the shop door.

"Come back inside and leave them alone. I'm sure that they don't want to play with you."

Eli patted her on the head before she took off, headed back into the shop. We made sure she made it in before I pulled away.

"You didn't give the photo back."

"I'm not going to."

Rolling my eyes, I asked where he wanted to go now. He said that it didn't matter, so we ended back up at his place.

"You have to be hungry now."

"Eli-"

"Chips at least?" He went to go grab some as I laid down on the bed. When he saw me laying on his side of the bed this time, he wasn't so lenient about it. "Move over closer to the wall, Auden."

Groaning, I did so before Eli laid down next to me. He opened the bag of chips before eating a few and handing the bag over to me. Just to please him, I ate a couple before giving the back. For awhile, the only noise that could be heard was the bag rustling as it was passed between the two of us. Finally, he got up and put the bag away before coming back to me.

"Auden?"

"Yeah?"

As I was on my back, Eli laid on his stomach, halfway off me, halfway on. "I want you to know something before we do anything else."

"What?"

"What happened before…me sleeping with you like that…I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"Well…I just figure that I should have been more focused on the baby. Not sex. And I just want you to know too, that it's not the baby that's makes me want to try to work this out. I mean, it is in part because…I'd shoot myself for not giving it at least one more try, but it's also because…I miss you when you're gone. A lot. I don't like for people who are important to me to leave. And right now, you're one of the most important people to me."

Reaching up, I stroked his head. "Eli…I want to try to make it work too. I missed you too."

After kissing me, he moved to lay down on the bed, leaving one arm wrapped around my waist.

"Are you going back on Sunday?"

"I have to, Eli. I have class."

"Then…What happens when the baby's born? I want to be with it."

"I know. We'll think of something."

He took a deep breath. "Adam wants me to move out of Colby with him. He needs a roommate down in Jackson."

"Are you going to go?"

"No. Of course not." He glanced at me. "This is my baby too, Auden. I guess…I'll have to leave Colby anyways and get an apartment up near Defriese."

"What? Eli-"

"I have too, Auden. I have to give shit up to be with you. I get that now. School is important to you. More important than me. That's good. You're going somewhere. I'm not. I'm just fucking not. I work at a bike shop for crying out loud. I have for years. I can't take care of a baby with that. I don't want to. I want him to think something of me. Or she. Whatever. The point is, I'm going to follow you. Always."

I closed my eyes. "That's why we broke up last time."

"I know. I didn't want to change. Now, though, something has changed. I'm going to be a…dad," he said, whispering the last part as if trying it out for the first time. "Daddy. I'll be somebody's daddy."

"Yeah," I whispered as he turned his head to kiss mine. He started laughing.

"So can I?"

"Can you what?"

"Tell people? I want to tell them all. Everyone."

I closed my eyes. If he started talking, everyone would know. "If you want. It's your baby too, Eli."

I was able to feel his smile as he kissed me again. We laid there so long that I fell asleep again. I was woken up by Eli talking.

"-never thought about it," he said into his phone. "Having a kid I mean. Now it's…I don't know. I just don't feel ready. Yeah, but those months'll go by fast, I think. Yeah. No, she's finishing school. Yeah. I want her too. No. She's really smart and stuff. Yeah. Like way smarter than me. I want her to be something, you know? I'm not. I work at the same place since I was a teenager, talk to the same people everyday. The only different thing I do now from back then is help take care of Thisbe."

Eli looked down at me, saw I was now awake, and stood up. He kept talking, now going into the bathroom to do it. I looked at a clock and found that it was almost midnight. Dang. Getting out of bed, I went out of the apartment to go get my bag from my car. When I returned, Eli was sitting on the bed, texting.

Sitting down next to him, I asked, "What do you want to do tonight?"

"You're pregnant. You need to sleep."

"Eli."

He kept looking at his phone. "I told my dad."

"Was that who you were talking to?"

"Yeah. Hope you don't mind."

"Eli, I told you to tell people."

'I know, but still. Have you told your Dad and Mom?"

"No," I sighed. "My mom will probably be upset with me. She'll think I'm ruining my life."

"Yeah. My dad's not exactly thrilled and my mom probably won't be either." Eli glanced at me. "But we're adults. We make our own decisions."

"I know."

He ran a hand up and down my back. It felt…nice.

"I need to go to the store."

I looked at him. "Okay."

When we got to his truck, Eli said, "I told my dad not to tell Mom yet. I think I could do a better job."

I thought of Karen in both situations. I don't know which man would be better suited for the task. "If you really think so."

"When are you going to tell your parents?" He asked, pulling away from the curb.

"Soon, I think. I probably should have already, but I thought you should know first."

"I'm glad. That you told me, I mean. And the baby, I guess. It's just…a lot to take in."

"Yeah. A lot."

He stopped by Gas/Gro and got us some candy before we went to the store.

"You need anything?" He asked as he grabbed a thing of trash bags.

"No." I wrapped my arms around myself, walking along beside him as he pushed the cart. "You work tomorrow?"

"Yeah. You're gonna go be with Thisbe, huh?"

"I think so, yes."

"I'll hangout with you guys after work, I guess. I got morning shift today."

"Really? Then shouldn't you be asleep?"

"I can't sleep, Auden. I'm still…Hyped. About the baby. And you. And…I don't know."

I didn't want to look at him. "So are we going to Clyde's after this?"

"You want to? We can."

"Yeah. I want coffee."

"Can you drink that while you're pregnant?"

I rolled my eyes. 'Well, I am, so yes."

He just laughed.

---

"I have to go now," Eli mumbled, kissing my head. I groaned, opening my eyes.

"Have fun at work."

"I can only try."

After he was gone, I went and took a shower before leaving too. When I pulled up to Heidi's, I got out and knocked on the door.

"Hey, Auden," she said, opening it. "I didn't know you were stopping by. Me and Thisbe are about to take off for work-"

"I came to get her, actually. If it's okay with you, I mean."

"Oh, yes. Yeah. It is."

Heidi led me to the kitchen, where my sister was eating breakfast. She smiled when she saw me.

"Hi, Auden! Eli?"

"He's at work," I told her, going to sit down at the table with her.

"Are you hungry, Auden?" Heidi asked. "There's coffee?"

"I'm okay," I said, though I knew that I would go get some after she left. She went out of the room for a minute before returning.

"I'm leaving now. Can you lock up when you leave, Auden?"

"Yeah, of course."

She gave Thisbe a kiss before leaving. When she did, I got up and got a cup of coffee before turning the pot off.

"What do you want to do today, Isby?"

"Eli."

"We can't see Eli yet. He's a work," I told her before taking a sip. "So what else do you want to do?"

"Eli."

"We'll eat lunch with him. Don't you want to do something else?"

"Eli."

"What would you want to do with Eli?" I asked, now giving up on getting her to chose a different activity. "Huh?"

"Play."

"Play what?"

"With Eli," she said as if I were dumb. Yeah. Sighing a little, I went and sat back down.

"Well, what would you and Eli play with?"

"Toys," she said, going back to her cereal.

"You like playing with Eli, huh?"

"Yes!" She looked up at me for a moment. "You?"

"Yeah, I like being with him too."

When she finally finished eating, we spent a good ten minutes trying to find her shoes before we left the house.

"You want to walk to the beach?" I asked her to which she nodded, knowing that meant passing Abe's Bikes if we went the normal way. Just to appease her, I went ahead and did so.

"Eli?" She asked me as we passed Clementine's. She pointed across the street. "Eli work?"

"Yes." I kept walking.

"Go?"

"No."

She whined as I led her down to the beach. I didn't really want to be here, but she liked playing in the sand. It was too cold to let her get in the water.

We stayed down there for awhile before she got bored. This was really my only plan for the day. We were walking away from the beach when she saw Eli. He was in front of the bike shop, talking to a customer. She ran over to him, waiting as patiently as she could for him to finish speaking.

"So you can pick up your bike on Monday."

The man looked at Thisbe, who had wrapped her arms around Eli's leg. "Your daughter?"

"No. This is my girlfriend's sister." He nodded at Auden. "That's Auden. I told you about her."

"Yeah," the guy said, nodding. "I didn't think you had a kid, but you never know."

Eli glanced at me shaking his head. "Uh, so see you on Monday. Cool?"

"Yeah. Thanks, bro."

As he walked off, Eli picked up Thisbe. "What are you doing here?"

"See Eli."

"Well, you saw me."

Giggling, she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Hi."

"Hey." He looked at me. "What were you guys doing?"

"Nothing. She kept whining about seeing you. You'd think that you don't spend every week together."

"Day," Eli corrected as Thisbe took his baseball cap off his head. "Stop that."

"Nop ap," she mimicked, putting the hat on her own head. "Eli."

"Hey, Eli, get your butt back in here. I need help with something," I heard Jake call from in the building. I frowned.

"Jake's back in town?"

Eli sighed. "You didn't really think that he was going to make it in California, did you?"

"Well…No, I guess not."

He shifted Thisbe slightly. "Well, I have to go, so-"

"Stay." Thisbe looked at me. "Bye-bye, Auden."

I sighed. "Can she stay with you?"

"Yeah, sure. She always does."

"'elper," she said, nodding her head. "Bye-bye."

I sighed as Eli walked into the building now leaving me alone. Being in Colby again was turning out to suck. Taking a deep breath, I headed over to Heidi's shop.

"Hi, Auden," she said as I came in, not looking up from some notepad she was writing on. "And hi…Where's Thisbe?"

"With Eli," I sighed, going over to the counter. "I haven't seen her in months and she would still rather be with him."

Heidi laughed a little. "He's so helpful with her. He's really a nice boy. Man, I guess."

I stared at her for a second. "Hey, Heidi?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I tell you something?" I felt weird, telling her before either of my parents, but telling them seemed like more of a death sentence whereas telling her could be at least somewhat exciting.

"Yeah. Of course, Auden. Is something wrong?"

"Not really. It's just…uh…I'm kind of pregnant. That's why I came back to C-"

"Really?" She stood up from the stool she was sitting on. "Oh, Auden!"" Her face changed for a second. "Wait. It's Eli's…right?"

"Yes."

"Oh, okay!" She was happy again. "Have you told him? Are you excited? Wait…You're keeping it, right?"

"Well, yeah."

"Okay!" She came around the counter to hug me. "Have you told him?"

"Last night, yes."

"And…?"

"And what?"

"Is he happy, is he mad, is he what?" She asked, still holding me. Finally, after about ten seconds too many, she let go.

"He's…I don't know. He didn't really say."

"Yeah, but how did he act?"

"At first I thought he was mad, but…I think he's still shocked.

Heidi gave me a once over. "Have you told your parents? What did they say? I bet they were angry."

"I haven't told them yet."

She gasped. "So you really meant I had to keep a secret?"

"The only one that knows is Eli. And he told his dad. IU don't know if his dad told him mom or not."

"Wow. Hmmm. So what are you going to do?"

"Do?"

"You and Eli."

"He wants to move closer to me, but…I don't know."

"Are you guys back together?"

"Yeah."

"Then why not?"

"He has a life here." Not much of one, but he did have one. He shouldn't have to give it up just because I want to go to college. I didn't say this to Heidi because I knew that she'd think that he would.

"Well, you can't move down here."

"Why not?"

"College, Auden. You're not dropping out."

She wasn't asking a question. She was telling me. I sighed.

"I don't kn-"

"Well, I do know. You're not. End of story."

I shook my head at her. "We'll see."

"No, we already know. You're not. You'll regret it later. You're not."

I didn't need this from her. I was already going to get it from my parents. Especially my mother…

---

"Tonight?"

"Hmmm?"

"Should we tell my mom tonight?"

I nodded at Eli as we pulled away from Heidi's. "Yeah."

It was a short drive over to his parents. We had dropped Thisbe back at Heidi's and were now headed over to his parents for dinner. Eli and his father figured that now would be the best time to break it to his mother. I warned Eli, however, that if I had to be present for this, he had to be when I told my mom. He agreed, but only after I also agreed to tell my brother and father alone.

"You ready?" Eli asked as we pulled up.

"Are you?"

He laughed a little, reaching over to pat my shoulder. "Yep."

"Then I guess so."

"Let me do all the talking. You just sit there and look…well, read the room. If she's upset, you look sad. If she yells, look frightened. If she gets happy, hug her."

"I doubt the last one will happen. And if she starts yelling, I'm leaving."

"You leave, I'll make you go to your mother's alone."

"Whatever. Let's just do this. She can't get that mad. You're not a teenager."

"I know." He got out of the truck. "Come on."

His dad was the one who answered the door. "Hey, guys. Your mom's in the kitchen with your brother."

"Jake's here?" Eli groaned. "Dad-"

"He has to know sometime too, Eli. And it's not like he's swimming in money right now. We have to feed him." He looked at me. "Eli told me. I'm…happy for you guys."

"Thank you," I said, matching his forced smile. Eli wrapped an arm around my shoulders as we came into the house. Normally when we were around his father, he cracked some sort of joke about me in the first minute. Right now, he was silent.

"Hi, Auden," his mother said as we came into the kitchen.

"No hi for me?" Eli asked, letting me go to give her a hug.

"Hi, Eli." She patted him on the back quickly. "I'm glad that you came down for the weekend, Auden. I just didn't realize that you and Eli were back together."

"Mom," Jake groaned from the kitchen table. "Just leave it alone."

Eli pulled out a chair for me at the table next to Jake before sitting down in his own. It was odd for him to be so kind to me and I was slightly worried.

"What did you make, Mom?"

"Stew. You guys don't have to eat at the table, Eli. You're all old enough to eat in the living room without spilling, I would hope."

For a second, I thought that she was looking at me, but then I realized that she was staring at Jake.

We left her in the kitchen and went back into the living room. Jake went to the bathroom first, leaving Eli and his father time to talk. Eli and I sat down on the couch while his father was already seated in a chair.

"Did you tell her?"

"Obviously not. Auden hasn't been kicked out yet."

"She won't blame Auden. She'll blame you."

"I blame Auden."

I knew that it was coming.

"Eli-"

"It was a joke," he told his father before glancing at me. "Auden and I have already talked."

"About what?" Jake asked, coming back into the room. "Wait, you didn't tell them, did you?"

"That I caught you reading Barbara Starr's new book?"

"Eli!"

"Slipped out," he said, rolling his eyes.

"It's a good book, The Choice. You just don't understand. Besides," he said, popping his collar. "Women dig sensitive guys."

"Right, my bad," Eli said, shaking his head. The conversation was killed as his mom came into the living room.

"Dinner's done," Karen said as she came back into the room, a bowl for herself and one for her husband in each hand.

"Get me mine, Auden," Eli said as I got up. His father cleared his throat while Eli just smiled. I don't know why his jokes just never seem to go over. Getting up, he followed me into the kitchen. He kissed the back of my head as we got bowls out.

"We'll do it while we're eating," he mumbled in my ear, pressing close against me. "Alright?"

I just nodded. When we got back out there, I made Eli sit between me and Jake, not wanting to be near him on the couch. If Jake noticed, he didn't seem to care much.

"So how's school going, Auden?" Karen asked after a moment.

"Uh, good, actually."

"It's your junior year, right?"

"Yes, it is."

She smiled at me. "I'm sure you're already planning what you're going to do after you graduate. What is that, actually?"

"She's coming down to Colby," Eli answered for me, making me frown. Then I realized that was probably true, seeing as we would have a child by then.

"All that college and you think she's really coming back here?" Jake snorted. "You'd have to really dumb…Hey, how's Maggie?"

"Not interested in you," I muttered. Jake just scowled at me.

"She's actually coming back here for a reason, Mom," Eli continued, ignoring me and Jake. "Right, Auden?"

I thought he was going to do it? I sent him a look. "Yeah. Sure."

"What's that?" She asked.

"She-"

"No way! The Bears lost?" Jake jumped up, screaming at the TV. "How? The Bears?"

"Anyways," Eli said, glaring at his brother. "Mom, me and Auden have something to tell-"

"To the Vikings? Who loses to the Vikings? They haven't been good since-"

"I was talking, Jake. Shut up and sit down."

Jake frowned, but did sit down. Eli looked back at his mother after sending his father a glance.

"Uh…Mom…Auden's…" He looked at Jake one more time to make sure that he wasn't going to have anymore outbursts. Jake, however, was also watching his older brother, interested. Eli took a deep breath. "Auden's pregnant, Mom."

It was quiet for a moment. Then Jake broke that.

"So…Did you make cornbread, Mom?"

"Pregnant." She looked at me. 'You're pregnant?"

"Yes."

"And…" She looked at Eli. "You're the father."

"Yeah, Mom."

"Eli, you haven't seen her in months!"

"Not that many."

"How can you even be sure? Huh?" She looked at me again. "I'm not trying to offend you, Auden, but…Have you been with someone else?"

"Mom-" Jake started, but was cut off by his father.

"Karen-"

"No," I told her. "I'm haven't."

"Okay then. That's all I wanted to know."

Jake glanced at me. "So…Did you see any cornbread in the kitchen? I don't want to get up, go all the way in there, and there not be any-"

"Yes, Jake. There is some in the oven. Pull it out," Karen said, now staring straight ahead.

It was quiet for a minute or two. Then Eli's mother spoke again.

"You're not doing anything stupid, are you?"

"Huh?" Eli looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"I meant, doing anything else stupid. You're not going to get married, are you?"

"No," Eli said, glancing at me. "We're not."

"Are you keeping it?"

That question confused me for a second as I tried to think of what else there was to do with the baby.

"Yeah, Mom, we never thought that we wouldn't."

"Good."

"Yeah."

Jake came back and sat down. "Cornbread sticks to the pan real bad. Anybody else know that? No? Well-"

"Stop, alright?" Eli sighed. "Just be quiet."

"I'm trying to make conversation."

"No one wants conversation."

"We sure did before you had to go and drop a bombshell."

I sighed. "Stop, Eli. Don't fight with him."

"Stop saying my name so much."

I rolled my eyes. "Eli-"

"I'm serious. I've told you before not to say my name so much."

"You fight over how much she says your name?" Jake shook his head. "You guys'll be worse parents than I would be."

"Jake," his father warned.

After we finished eating, Eli took our bowls to the sink, leaving me alone with his family for even longer when he headed to the bathroom afterwards.

"So…Are you finishing college?"

I looked at Mrs. Stock. "Yes. I think. We haven't really talked about it much."

"You should," she said, sounding tired. "Have you told your parents yet?"

"No. I've told Heidi and Eli, that's it. And you, now."

Sighing, she asked, "How long have you known?"

"A week or two."

Jake looked around the room. "I think I'll take off now, Mom. I have some stuff to do tonight."

After he left, Eli came back. Sitting down next to me, he bumped his knee against mine. When I glanced at him, he just smiled at me, trying to let me know that it was okay.

"So you've been to the doctor, Auden?" Karen asked, apparently not going to let anything go. Eli was supposed to do all the talking, but I felt like Karen didn't care to hear from him. Only me. I figured the same would go with my mother. She probably wouldn't even want Eli in her house, baby or not.

"Yep," Eli answered for me. "She went. Look. I've got a picture."

He pulled the ultrasound picture out of his pocket, as if showing it off. His mother wasn't impressed and just sighed again. Eli looked at the picture for a second before pocketing it again and standing up.

"We should probably take off now. Auden has to go back to Defriese in the morning."

His father smiled at us. "I hope that you guys have a good night."

"I'm with Auden. It's impossible." He led me out of the house after hugging his mother. Once we were in the safety of his truck, Eli said, "She took it better than I thought."

"Says you."

"Come on, Auden. If I get off that easy with your mother, I'll be glad."

I sighed a little. "Are you really going to make me tell my father alone?"

"Well…Are you going to tell him over the phone?"

"Yeah."

"Then I'll be in the room if you want." He reached out and patted me on the leg, smiling at me. It was forced though.

When we got back to his place, Eli went to take a shower, leaving me to go to sleep. I was mostly there when he crawled into bed. He kissed my head.

"Auden?"

"Hmmm?"

"We need to talk."

"Mmmhmmm."

"Uh…You know that I…I mean…about the baby."

"What about it?"

"Well, it's just…uh…What are we going to do? About you being pregnant and all?"

"I thought that you were going to move closer to me?"

"Oh…yeah…that."

"You don't really want to."

"No, I don't."

"I don't want to come down here either."

"I figured you didn't."

"Then, I guess, I'll be pregnant, there, by myself."

"I'll come see you and stuff. And you'll come see me."

"What about when it's born, Eli?"

"I don't know. I can't make all our decisions. If I did, you would stay here, with me."

"What about college?"

"I want you to finish that, but…I want you with me too. And the baby. And…Damn it, Auden, I don't know what to do. I mean….two days ago, you wouldn't even talk to me. Now we're going to have a baby."

I turned my head to look at him. "I know. I'm still…shocked too, I guess."

"And it's not like I don't want to be with you."

"I know."

"I still did, back when we broke up. I figured that it'd be our normal break up and we'd be back with each other in a few days, but-"

"Let's not talk about it."

"We need to though. Once the baby's born, we can't…do that anymore."

"Do what?"

"Play around. We're either going to be serious about each other or we're not."

I closed my eyes. "What are you saying?"

He moved to lay on my side, pulling my body back to his, holding me. Kissing my head, he began to rub my stomach. "I love you, Auden. I always will. Even if we don't work out, you'll always be my first baby's mother. Always. And, I hope, you'll be the mother of all my other kids. Even if we don't work out, which we need to figure out, you'll still matter to me. I'll always be there for you. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Good." He kissed my head again. "Now go to sleep. You have a long day tomorrow."

I rolled onto my side so that my back was pressed against him. Eli kissed me one more time before turning onto his back to go to sleep.