"I can't believe this. This test has to be wrong."

Blossom watched her sister pace at the foot of the bed, herself sprawled out on top as she made a list that Buttercup didn't care enough to look at for details. "We can go take a ride to the drug store, get a second test to be sure. But, it's a very unlikely chance it's wrong."

Buttercup turned on her heels to her face her sister. "But they can be wrong, right?"

"Theoretically."

Buttercup was scrambling to grab her favorite black leather jacket, an asymmetrical zip front with double snap closure at top, before strolling for the door. "Let's go, woman! Move your ass!"

Quickly grabbing her black open front, long sleeve knit cardigan, Blossom sprinted after her sister, grabbing her keys and purse mid-run. "Must you use such vocabulary?" she remarked as she crawled into her car.

Nothing was said in response from Buttercup. She remained silent, leaning against the window, watching the rain fall as she prayed to whatever gods there may be that the first test had been wrong. She prayed, and begged, and wished, that she could go back in time. Buttercup wanted to reverse the clock, to undo her slip up, to not have let her feelings for Butch cloud her judgment and give in to him like nothing.

But she was smart. Buttercup knew there were no time machines, no magic spells, and no powers in this universe that could undo the time and reverse her mistake. Chances are, she was pregnant…with Butch's baby of all things. She felt like an utter imbecile. She was a senior! This was her year to enjoy high school for once in her life. This was the best year of high school, and she would miss so much. The field trips, Prom, sports events…maybe even graduation.

She banged her head against the window of Blossom's brilliant white Hyundai Sonata, a brief whine escaping her lips. "I'm such a fucking idiot," she muttered.

"You are not, Buttercup," Blossom assured her, rubbing her sister's shoulder as she drove. "It happens sometimes, you know? Mary was pregnant at sixteen! You're a whole two years older than she had been when she gave birth to the savior of the world."

"Please don't start comparing me to the Virgin Mary," she remarked snippily as she met her sister's gaze. "You're not even religious."

"So? Almost everyone knows who she is, doesn't mean I have to be religious to use her as a logical comparison." A dramatic eye roll was all of a response Blossom received. "My point however, is that this isn't the end of the world. This can be dealt with easily. You have tons of options, all of which I support you on. No matter what."

"Suuure," she muttered to her sister, staring out the window once more at the dark clouds of midafternoon, the rain streaking down the glass like her tears wanted to at that very moment. But she held them in, though not without effort.

After a few more distressing minutes of silence between the two Puffs, Blossom pulled in to the Rite-Aid, a pharmacy by their house. Buttercup bolted through the rain and inside before Blossom had a chance to even open her door, though she quickly caught up.

"Jeeze, woman. The tests aren't going to disappear if you walk to the aisle."

"Uh-huh," Buttercup said mindlessly, staring at the exceptionally long aisle of tests, condoms, and other feminine products. Her gaze locked on the pregnancy test, and eyes went huge as saucers. "There's got to be fifty fucking tests here! How the hell am I supposed to know which ones work best?"

Blossom stared over a few of the names, recalling commercials she'd seen on television and the ones that were said to be the best for this situation. A moment or so later, she reached for a blue box, handing it to her fidgety sister. "Clear Blue Easy Digital, that's supposedly a very reliable test."

Buttercup stared at it a moment, reaching for another box of a different color to compare. "What about this First Response thing. Is this one good?"

"By all accounts, it is. Though, I've never had to test the dependability of them myself. So it's purely a guesstimation on my part. Go ahead and pick one. Either will give you an answer."

After a long moment of consideration, Buttercup took both and threw them into the small blue hand basket, grabbing two other ones that were different from the first two and throwing them in as well. Blossom scoffed in utter disbelief as Buttercup took the cart and started for the counter. "What?" she asked innocently. "Just a precaution, to test in case those are wrong too."

Blossom merely rolled her eyes as they stood at the counter, growing a tad irritated at the smirk on the male cashier's lips as he scanned their items. "Something funny, sir?" she inquired snippily, though respectfully.

He shrugged, shaking his head. "Nothing, dearie. I take it one of ya'll got a yes to a test?"

Buttercup's eyes locked on the multi-color haired cashier, looking guilty and exasperated at the same time. "What makes you think that?"

Ricki, so the name tag listed him as, gave her a "what do you think" sort of look, in the most dramatic way he knew possible. "Sweetie, no gal comes in here lookin' for this many pregnancy tests on their first time. Now if they get a yes on the first one, they come in looking for twenty, just to test one after the other, until they get a no. Ya know when they end up getting that no?"

"Twenty first time?"

"Neva'."

Buttercup screamed irritably, throwing her head back as she practically growled and began to pace behind her sister once more. "Don't mind her," Blossom explained.

Ricki waved it off and smiled. "Don't worry 'bout it doll, it's totally normal. Here ya go. I'd start with the First Response. They're the least likely to give a false positive. Best one of the bunch." He handed back the bag of goods to Blossom and nodded farewell to the duo once the cash was exchanged. "Good luck to ya'll!"

"Thanks," was all Buttercup muttered as she stormed out, followed by her eldest sister.

The tension Buttercup felt made each second on the ride home feel as if they were three times as long. However, after having finally reached their house and concealed themselves in the privacy of Blossom's room, Buttercup dumped her bag of goodies onto the bed and looked for the recommended test. "I'm gonna take this, I'll be out in a minute."

Blossom nodded as she placed her coat on the back of her computer chair, then gathering the remaining tests and putting them safely away (and away from Bubbles' sneaky reach).

A minute later, Buttercup returned from the bathroom, putting the cap on the test as she struggled to keep herself from collapsing. "It's going, two more minutes."

"Buttercup," Blossom said, watching her green eyed sister settle onto the bed and stare endlessly at the test in her hand. "What are you going to do if it is positive? You have to consider the possibility it is."

She sighed heavily, letting the test settle beside her as she fell back onto the pillows. "What do you think I should do?"

She sighed, sitting in her computer chair, a thoughtful look on her face as she took out the list she'd been working on before their trip to the pharmacy. "Well, I can't answer that. You know I won't either. That's absolutely your decision. I will say this though . . ." Buttercup waited patiently. "I do not think you should abort it."

In all honesty, that had been the first option to run through Buttercup's mind. But it legitimately brought her physical pain to consider it. "I won't," she said matter-of-factly. "I couldn't do that."

Blossom nodded understandingly, a faint twinge of relief in her system. "So what do you want to do?"

Buttercup remained silent a minute, staring up at the ceiling as she thought. "I can't keep it. No way in hell I can keep it. . . . I couldn't play mother. I couldn't keep goldfish alive, let alone a baby."

"Okay, first off, you let my goldfish die. Probably because I accidentally let Bubbles borrow your favorite boots. And secondly, I remember how well you did on that parent project in junior year Health. You got the highest grade in the class!"

"That was a fucking doll, Blossom!" she snapped, bolting up to glare at her sister. "A living and breathing baby is a little more difficult to take care of. I couldn't risk hurting it." She laid back down, rubbing her forehead as a headache started to take form. "Besides, our lives are far too hectic to be a safe environment for a child."

"You're sounding like a responsible mother already," Blossom mused, crossing her legs as she rested her hands on her notebook. "You wouldn't even consider keeping it?"

She hesitated. "Do you think I should?"

"I think you could."

Buttercup considered that a moment and sighed in defeat, letting the subject die there. She would not be rushed into making such a difficult decision right now. Besides, she was still adamant in believing the first test had been a false positive.

"It's time," Blossom murmured, staring her sister down with a motherly gaze.

Buttercup hesitated a moment, unwilling to accept that this could very well be another positive. But she had to know, she couldn't bear waiting any longer. She stared down at the test beside her, reaching for it with shaky fingers. Buttercup took a deep breath and flipped it over…

After a moment or two of silence, Blossom grew nervous. "What is it?" she asked a little too anxiously.

The green Puff stared at her with a numb look. "Think we can stop by the drug store and get some prenatal vitamins?"

Despite the tight knot that built in Blossom's stomach for the coming months, she couldn't help smiling. "I'm going to be an aunt," she murmured to herself.

"That you are be . . . I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing yet though."

Blossom came to sit by her sister, hugging her shaking for as she sobbed ever so lightly. She don't know how long she sat there crying, but Buttercup knew this . . . the next nine months would be hell.

xxx

One week later….

It had been about a week since Buttercup's life-changing discover, and things were already quite different from the norm. "So you're first doctor's appointment is tomorrow," Blossom said, setting a bowl of Special K before Buttercup, her favorite cereal. "You nervous?"

"Not if you come, I won't be."

"Do you want me to come?" she asked as she settled herself beside her sister, who was sitting cross legged in her chair at the end of the table. "I can tell Danielle to take care of dace troop if you want me to."

Buttercup swallowed the bite of cereal she'd been chewing and nodded. "I would really love that. I can't ask Bubbles, because, well, she don't know about this," she said, gesturing to her unchanged stomach.

Blossom nodded, taking her iPhone out and texting the orders to her co-captain. She flipped her side swept bangs out of her eyes, staring at her sister as she finished the last bite of her cereal. "Gosh, Buttercup, slow it down. The cereal isn't going to disappear if you take normal bites."

"I'm sorry! But I'm hungry! I couldn't eat my weight in food right now . . . I need cheese," she whined, standing and bolting at Puff speed to the refrigerator. "There is no cheese in this fuckin' house? Are you kidding me?"

"Back of the top shelf, Buttercup."

A moment of search and Buttercup muttered, "Oh," with an embarrassed giggle. "Sorry."

"Hormones making you a tad temperamental I see. A little early for that isn't it?"

Buttercup shrugged as she sat down with her block of sharp cheddar, knife already slicing away. "Like that's the end of it. My breasts feel enormous, and they hurt like so fuckin' bad. My bra is killing me right now. I can't stand anything that smells like chicken. I almost threw up just looking at dinner last night. That's why I left the table. I went to the bathroom sixteen times since dinner last night too. Oh," she stopped cutting, pointing the knife conversationally at Blossom as she spoke. "And that cologne I got Butch for Christmas last year? The really great smelling one that makes me wanna jump him every time he's around wearing it? I gag at the smell of it." She continued slicing. "Morning sickness is making school a living nightmare, as if it wasn't already. I am nauseous all of the time! I can't stand it. How normal women do this is beyond me. It's been what, a week already, and I'm ready to kill myself."

Blossom hardly blinked as the irritating symptoms were explained to her. "Sounds like an exciting journey," she remarks sarcastically.

"Exciting my ass, you ain't livin' it."

She giggled at her green eyes sister, before a question popped up in Blossom head. "You know, I still don't know who the father is."

"That's unnecessary information," Buttercup muttered.

Blossom gave her sister a suspicious look. "Buttercup…"

"Good morning, my beautiful sister!" Bubbles called cheerfully as she walked into the room, arms stretched out above her head. "Beautiful day isn't it? A wonderful way to start Saturday."

Blossom and Buttercup both fell into an awkward silence, exchanging nervous glances before watching their blonde hair sister flip through the cabinets. "So what are you doing today, Bubbles?" Blossom casually asked as Buttercup focused on slicing more cheese.

"Boomer is taking me out for the day," she explained as she grabbed an apple from the bowl on the counter, leaning casually against it as she observed her sisters. "I told you about concert he's doing in San Diego, right? Well, he leaves on Monday. He will be gone until Thanksgiving. So he is spending the day with me to compensate for the time we won't be together here."

"Sounds romantic."

"It is!" she gushed, taking a bite of her apple. "What about you girls? What do you have planned for today? Spending the afternoon with your Ruff wannabee-boyfriends?"

"Brick is not my boyfriend, nor does he want to be," Blossom explained, her tone a tad sharper than normally.

Buttercup and Bubbles exchanged "yeah right" sorta looks before returning to their respective foods. "If you say so," Bubbles muttered, taking a bite again as she walked to the door. "Well, have fun with whatever it is you're doing. . . . Sheesh, cut up enough cheese there did ya, Buttercup? Since when do you even like sharp cheddar anyway?" she asked rhetorically as she walked out.

Buttercup was nervous by her sister's question a moment, but then she remembered this was Bubbles. And Bubbles was not the brightest person around, she didn't easily put two and two together. "So what time is the appointment?" she asked when she heard the door close to the front of the house.

"Eleven o'clock. And it's ten already. I would start to get ready if I were you," Blossom said as she rose, pushing her chair in. "Well, unless you plan to go to the doctor's in skull flannel pants and a gothic Mickey Mouse tee.

Buttercup allowed her eyes to skim over the ensemble she wore briefly before continuing to scarf the cheese before her. "This is gonna be a long day," she murmured to herself as Blossom walked out of the room, wishing the headache in her head would stop like all of the other symptoms she wish she didn't have.

Her hand when to her stomach at the sudden feeling of swishing started deep within her tummy. Was the baby moving? Could it sense she wasn't excited about all of this? A deep sense of guilt suddenly hit Buttercup and she rubbed her stomach reassuringly, as if it would do any good. "God, what am I gonna do with you?"

xxx

Only sounds audible in the small mint green waiting room were the tick-tick of the hands on the clock, the pop of the lady behind the counter's gum, and Buttercup's black strap combat boots tapping the floor impatiently. Her leg shook, fingers rapping the wood arm rest of the uncomfortable chairs, staring around aimlessly.

Blossom was a tad more comfortable than her high strung sister. Sitting cross legged, a parent magazine from the rack nearby rested on thigh, she carelessly flipped through each page. "You need to relax," she said, not looking up from one article. "The stress is not good for the baby."

Buttercup spared a brief glare at her sister, shifting and mindlessly adjusting her already mini black pleated mini skirt. "This is killer. This kid is going to be born before they get me into the damn back room. Our appointment was an hour ago!" she yelled in hushed tones.

"You're not the only pregnant woman in the world, there were people before us. We should be-"

"Buttercup Utonium?" the nurse said from the door, a clipboard in her hand.

"Calling you any minute," Blossom finished. "Right here!"

The two teens stood and followed the ceil blue uniformed nurse into the backroom. "Is this your first appointment?"

"Yes," Buttercup said.

The nurse stared at her from the corner of her eye, contemplating whether to say something or no. "If you don't mind my asking, you wouldn't happen to be "Buttercup like Powerpuff Girls, Buttercup, right?"

Blossom and Buttercup exchanged brief glances, before shaking their heads in denial. "No, but I get that a lot."

The nurse, whose name tag identified her as "Kelly", sighed and shrugged halfheartedly. "I was so sure," she murmured, leading them into the small room. "The doctor will be with you in one moment."

"Why did you lie?" Blossom snapped as the door shut behind the nurse. "What are the odds that there are two identical looking women named Buttercup Utonium? She'll figure it out eventually."

"Did you see how she believed it? I highly doubt she'll figure it out."

With a disgruntled sigh, Blossom settled herself into the seat in the corner, staring down at her phone to text Brick. Buttercup was less than relaxed, struggling not to shift with irritation. "God, my breasts are fuckin' killing me. My bra is like a torture chamber to them. And if that girl in the reception's office doesn't throw out that chicken sandwich from her lunch, I am going to bite her head off. Then throw up on her. I could do a lot of that right now."

"Language, Buttercup."

"It's true though! God, this sucks. Am I never going to be able to eat chicken again? I live on that shit!"

"That's the price you pay for having sex. You only have to wait nine months," she said with a rather cynical smirk.

A simple flip of the middle finger was all of a response that Buttercup would respond with. Like a prayer from the heavens, the doctor strolled in, clipboard in hand, and a smile that irritated Buttercup to no end. "Ah, Buttercup. Good morning. Blossom, good morning." She sat on a small rolling stool that was in the corner, writing into the file. "So how are you feeling? Must be exciting. Pregnancy is a beautiful process."

"Beautiful? You think being two sizes too big for your normal jeans, stomach cramps that god would find horrendous, an insane craving for cheese, puking all the time, and sleeping like 90 percent of the day is beautiful? Ha! Lady, you have a very skewed perception of beautiful."

The doctor, who had earlier been identified as Dr. Michelle Hernandez, simply glanced over at Blossom, and received a brief smile of apology. "The hormones are making her a tad irritable lately," she explained.

"Understandable," she said with a nod, her gaze returning to the patient. "Craving, and aversions are more than common. Cheese is nothing in comparison to some I've seen. There are some who have cravings for chalk, or even worse. And the fatigue and morning sickness with pass around the end of the first trimester possibly."

"Possibly?"

"It's common to see them end around then, but there are some that go full term with the symptoms. We will find out at the end of your first trimester where you will be with that."

"How long before I get to the end of my first trimester!" Dr. Hernandez didn't even glance up at her as she passed a small clear cup, the intentions obvious. "What the fuck? I have to pee in a cup?"

"Buttercup, there is quite a bit you'll have to do," Blossom replied, her tone sarcastic. "Blood test, STD test, pelvic exam, pap smear, among other things."

Her head whipped to the side, and a scowl formed on her face. "And how do you know so much about pregnancy exams?"

"Unlike you, I do read. I've read medical journals, done essays for health, the basics. You remember that essay you didn't do last month for health class?" A simple nod. "Research on the joys of pregnancy. Maybe you should have been paying attention, instead of texting Butch, and you would know what to expect of this appointment."

A growl grew in her throat, and the doctor's head snapped up. "Is this Butch fellow the father?"

The growl deepened, but Buttercup shook her head. "No."

"Does the father know?"

"Fuck no. And I don't intend to tell him. Not now at least. Never preferably."

The doctor blinked, her head cocking to the side ever so slightly. "I am fairly certain that at some point along the line, your condition is going to be fairly noticeable. Unless . . ."

Blossom tensed, knowing full well what she had been implying. Had Buttercup been considering abortion? Buttercup said nothing, her eyes averted from all. "I'm keeping all my options open," she finally muttered, eyes still locked on the floor.

"Well, it is your decision. But, let me say, should you decide to take that road, then you have until the end of the first trimester to terminate it. After that point, the state makes the possibility illegal to you."

"Fine," she muttered, letting the subject end at that. "So what's first?"

"I will take a few vials of blood, then you can excuse yourself and fill that cup. Blossom, can you reach into that mini fridge in the corner beside you and pull out a water bottle for your sister?" With an eerie silence, Blossom reached over and pulled out the bottle, handing it to her tense sister. During which time, the doctor prepped Buttercup for the blood withdraw. "Do you know when your last menstrual period was? Or when the possible date of conception was?"

"Saturday, October eighth . . . That was the night of conception."

The very mention of that date . . . homecoming night, and Blossom's eyes were huge with understanding. "Oh my god," she muttered unintentionally. "I know who the father is."

Buttercup spared her a brief glare before relaxing her arm for the blood pressure test. "Say a word and I will personally murder you. Having a baby in a jail cell is not the worst thing that could happen to me."

Blossom fell silent, her eyes still huge with utter bafflement as the doctor congratulated Buttercup on a normal heart rate and pulse. "If your sister wouldn't mind stepping out, we'll do a pap scrape, and a pelvic exam, then you can fill that cup."

Despite the nervous glance Buttercup threw in her direction, Blossom retreated cooperatively out of the room silently. Her mind was chaotic, eyes burning as she stared absentmindedly into the distance, never blinking. Butch was the father, she was certain of it. But that hadn't been her date for Homecoming. Could they have left together when her back was turned? Or was it her original date's? The questions swirled around in her head, and a headache was forming. The nervousness started to overwhelm her, and she almost fainted with relief at the sight of her sister's eventual reappearance, raising to great the grumbling girl. "Everything go alright?"

"That freak stuck shit up my crotch. Do I look okay?"

"Right," was all she mumbled.

Buttercup waved the remark off, staring down at the cup she was struggling not to crush into smithereens. "I'm gonna piss in this stupid ass cup, and then she said we'll be just about done. She wants to talk to you."

"Wonderful . . ." Blossom muttered as Buttercup disappeared into the bathroom just off the hallway, and she made her way back to the room BC had once been in. The doctor had still been filling out paperwork and smiled up at her as Blossom entered. "You wanted to speak with me?"

"Yes," she said, waving a hand encouragingly to the seat Blossom had previously been in.

"She is pregnant, isn't she?"

"I'll have to wait for the blood results to be certain, but based on her temper-"

"The temper is hardly something new for Buttercup."

Contemplating that a moment, she gave almost an uninterested shrug before continuing. "Then I say waiting for the blood results would be best. But I am more than comfortable saying she is pregnant. I even just finished writing out a prescription for a prenatal vitamin for her."

Blossom glanced over the small prescription sheet as it was passed to her, committing the name to memory. "And this is all she needs for now?"

"For now . . . if she is considering keeping the child, I have a packet of everything she will need. Pamphlets on every detail of her pregnancy."

"Talking about me?" Buttercup said, startling the two women almost whispering now.

"Buttercup," Blossom greeted halfheartedly. "Doctor Hernandez raised a good question."

"And what would that be?" she inquired, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she threw herself back onto the examination bench. "Am I keeping the baby?" Blossom silence was more than a sufficient response for this Puff. "Do you honestly expect me to play Teen Mom at the age of eighteen?"

"It was just a question," she replied, her voice eerily monotone as she spoke.

The silence drug on, Dr. Hernandez shifting awkwardly as the tension grew between the two Puffs. "But . . ." Buttercup said, her tone almost bored. "It couldn't hurt to get that packet right? I could use it for my health class."

Putting aside the fact Buttercup did not have a health class this semester, Blossom smiled encouragingly at the doctor, nodding to her to move forward. "Right," she said as she reached into the cabinet, pulling out a blue folder. "Well, this is a collection of everything you'll need. There are brochures here on everything. From what foods to eat, what foods to avoid, problems you could face, typical symptoms and some of the more abnormal ones, and just a booklet on every stage of your first trimester. I will give you a packet similar to this of your second trimester should you decide to . . ." Her sentence hung in the air, and she couldn't help feel awkward.

"Right, thanks . . ." Her fingers wrapped around the folder, but the hesitance in her reach was not easily concealed. "So . . . are we done here?"

"Yes; Blossom has a prescription for some prenatal vitamins if you so choose to continue with the pregnancy." All stood and the Doctor smiled, hand stretched out to shake. "I wish you the best of luck and hope to see you in a month."

"Thanks, Doc. See 'ya around." With a forceful yank, Blossom was pulled out of the room and out the front door. "Can we go get some lunch? I'm starved."

"Of course," was all she said as they settled themselves in the car. As they pulled out of the parking lot and were driving silently down the hall, Blossom couldn't help see from the corner of her eye the way Buttercup discretely skimmed each page of the stuffed packet. "Do you . . . want me to drop this prescription off on my way home from work?"

Her eyes were distant, and moments seem to pass before Buttercup actually responded. "Hmm?" she asked, her eyes instantly darting to Blossom. "No, no. It's fine. Don't worry about it."

The frown formed before Blossom could control it, but luckily the distracted Buttercup was oblivious to it. "Okay." That poor child . . . has no idea what's coming.