I don't own Andi Mack nor will I ever. No copyright infringement intended.
Bex couldn't help but stare at the positive pregnancy test in her hand with a growing sense of horror and dread. She couldn't be pregnant. Fuck, she was only sixteen! What did she know about raising kids, let alone a baby, at her age? She did have options - abortion and adoption were definitely on the table - but her head was spinning right now. Her hands shaking, Bex threw the test in the garbage and covered it up with other trash so her snooping mother didn't stumble on it and blow her secret before she decided what to do. Her hand pounding, she slipped away from her parents and actually rushed to school, something she never did.
A concerned Celia watched her daughter flee the house, hoping desperately her suspicions weren't correct. "Has she been acting off to you?" Ham asked his wife.
"Our daughter's pregnant, Ham. She hasn't said anything yet but a mother knows." Celia choked back tears, hoping against hope that she was wrong. What were they going to do?
He spit out his coffee. "What? Are you sure?" he frantically pressed. "She could just have the flu! That has to be it."
She shook her head. "I'm sure." As much as it killed her to do so, she'd wait until Bex was ready to tell them the truth.
Ham pulled her into her arms and hugged Celia as she cried.
Bex fought off morning sickness most of the day at school and shook off her friends' concerns. "Are you sure you're alright?" questioned her boyfriend, Matt.
"Of course I am," Bex lied. How was he going to take the news? He was nice and dependable but this was life-changing news and she wasn't sure he could handle this. Shit, she was barely handling it. A real life baby that they had created together was on the way, and that would throw anybody for a loop.
Something seemed off with his girlfriend but Matt ignored it and kissed her. She laughed and then hurried home. Her parents were watching TV in the living room and both seemed tense for some reason. Her heart started to pound. Had they somehow figured it out? She had thought over her options all day and still hadn't figured out what to do yet. "Mom? Dad? Can I talk to you?" Bex needed to do this before she lost her nerve.
Celia tensed up. "Of course, Rebecca. You can tell us anything."
Bex closed her eyes and blew out a breath. "I fucked up. You're going to be so disappointed but I'm pregnant."
Ham sighed. "You were right," he murmured to Celia.
Bex ignored that for now. "Are you upset, Mama?"
"I'm disappointed in you, Rebecca. I thought you were smarter than this! How could you let this happen?" Celia yelled, forgetting that she was trying not to judge her daughter.
"I'm sorry!" Bex yelled back.
"Why don't we just calm down and have a rational conversation about this?" Ham suggested, trying to smooth things over. They could lose Bex if they made one wrong move, and he didn't want that.
Both Celia and Bex burst into tears instead and he pulled them closer to him so he could calm his girls down. Unfortunately, both started crying harder.
They would come up with a solution to this problem but not today.
Unsurprised when Matt broke up with her and told her he wasn't ready for fatherhood, to keep the baby away from him, Bex leaned on her friends for support. None of them really knew what do so at least they were all in the dark together. And when Bex decided to keep the baby, Celia and Ham vowed to be there for her. Although upset, they refused to kick her out or make a decision for her because it was up to Bex. They were determined to treat her like an adult since she was no longer a child. This pregnancy had made sure of that. "Have you come up with any names yet?" a curious Celia questioned seven months into Bex's pregnancy.
"I have a few ideas."
Celia narrowed her eyes at her daughter. "You're not going to name her after one of your favorite singers, are you?" She wouldn't put it past Bex.
Bex snorted. "No! I wouldn't do that to my kid." And once again, that sentence shocked her. Was this really her life now?
"We'll see."
"Leave her alone, Celia. I trust Rebecca to come up with the perfect name," Ham chided as he popped into the kitchen to grab something to eat.
Celia wondered if Bex would name the baby after herself - she wouldn't put it past her - but dismissed the thought. It wasn't going to happen. "She better. At least run it past us first, okay?" She and Ham had talked in private a few weeks earlier and decided to raise their granddaughter herself if Bex found she couldn't do it. They were prepared for all eventualities. Now they just needed to let her know.
Three days before her due date, Bex went into labor and delivered a healthy, seven pound, four ounce little girl after eight agonizing hours of labor. She refused to let Celia leave so her mother held her hand as she pushed, something she would forever be grateful for. "She's absolutely adorable," Bex whispered in awe.
Refusing to let go of her currently unnamed granddaughter, Celia only bobbed her head in agreement. "She's the second most cutest baby I've ever seen. You were the first."
"You have a name yet?" Ham couldn't take the suspense much longer.
Bex laughed. "Meet Andi Christine Mack."
Celia stopped babbling at the newborn. "Andi? Is that short for Andrea?" she questioned hopefully.
"Nope, just Andi."
"Are you sure?"
"Celia," warned an amused Ham.
"I'm just saying that Andrea is a wonderful name!" Celia tried, careful not to wake the sleeping baby in her arms.
"It is but that's not her name. It's Andi," Bex forcefully insisted before yawning.
"Fine. Well, just know that we love you, Andi Christine," Celia cooed.
"Can I hold her now or are you just never going to let her go?" Ham needed, itching to hold his granddaughter.
"Hand her over now," an amused Bex told her mother.
Grumbling, Celia did exactly that and watched the two of them interact, her heart thumping in joy. This wasn't ideal circumstances to bring a child into the world and she wished she and Ham could have had more kids, but seeing these two together excited her.
With a sinking heart, Bex had a feeling the bubble was about to burst. And she was right.
Andi was three weeks old when Bex made one of the hardest decisions of her life. She didn't regret having her daughter but she was unfit to be a mother. This much she already knew. She wasn't good enough to raise her baby. With tears in her eyes, Bex scribbled a note for her parents to find and bent down to look at the baby in the bassinet. "I love you, sweet girl," she whispered. She pressed a kiss to her forehead and stepping carefully so she wouldn't wake her parents, Bex grabbed some of her things, including her box, and left. This was the right decision for Andi. She deserved two parents who loved her and weren't fucked up.
Bex stopped by for the occasional visits over the years and she ached when Andi referred to her as her sister and her parents as her own but she had made the best choice. Andi was healthy and thriving and that's all that mattered. But everything came crashing to a head on her daughter's thirteenth birthday when she realized she couldn't do this anymore.
Unsurprisingly, Andi peppered her with questions. "What was pregnancy like? Are you going to stay for real this time? What was it like when I was born? Why did you leave in the first place?"
Bex held her hands up. "Stop, Andi Christine. This isn't Gilmore Girls!"
Andi perked up. "Did you see the reboot?" she asked excitedly. Off Bex's look, she shrugged. "Right, not the point."
"You're not ready to hear all of my issues, kids."
"You mean you're not ready," Andi shot back.
"That too," Bex conceded.
"When will you be ready?" Andi buzzed with curiosity.
She shrugged. "I don't know yet but I will tell you everything eventually."
Celia walked into the room and eyed her daughters in suspicion. "You two are plotting something."
"We're not so don't even go there, Mom."
"We'll see." Celia winked at them and walked out of the room.
Bex and Andi dissolved into giggles and the older woman was a bit surprised when her thirteen year old daughter ran into her arms for a hug.
Everything had been turned on its head and the Mack family had a lot of issues to work through. It was definitely going to take their time to sort through everything and how they felt. Nothing was going to be the same ever again.