This is a shift day [see above]. There was another upload this morning: You'll Find Wonder, chapter 1.


"Steps 16-36, Time Is On Your Side"

2. Step Seventeen, Hold Close

On most days, life at her house didn't appear all that different from how it had been before… Before the day she sat her parents down and told them that she was expecting a baby… They got up in the morning, got ready for the day, headed on out, came back, did things, went to bed… Even now that she was growing every day it seemed, it wasn't affecting them as a whole, at least not as far as she could tell.

Her family had been so good to her already, and it wasn't as though she had expected them to be horrible, but… with what she knew of Quinn's experience, it had been absolute dread. But they were supportive. They looked out for her, made sure she would be alright, that they both would be, her and the baby. Her little sister was curious about the whole thing, though at the same time showed the kind of frustration her parents told Brittany she herself had experienced when she was about to be a big sister. This may have been her future nephew or niece, but to her it as good as a younger sibling coming into the house and it wasn't sitting well with her just yet.

But then there were other days, ones where she was reminded that, young as she was, this pregnancy was not something they would have wanted to happen to her, and then she'd wonder if there were things they felt that they wouldn't tell her, to protect her feelings.

They weren't bad people, they were the best parents in the world, as far as she was concerned. This baby growing inside her was going to be loved, by all of them, including her parents, but it didn't change the situation, and she was seeing that now, wondering that now.

"Brittany, are you up there?" her father's voice sounded from below and she sat up on her bed.

"Yes?" she called back.

"Come down when you have a minute?" She got up, moving to go toward the stairs. Her father waited there when he saw her coming. "Were you napping?"

"No, I was just lying down," she explained.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked, taking a step forward.

"No, I'm fine, I promise," she shook her head.

"Okay, well let's go sit, we need to talk," he nodded, leading her toward the kitchen.

"Did I do something?" she hesitated.

"Remember we said we'd have to talk about some things for school?"

"Oh, right." They sat at the table and there she saw the notebook, the one her father had been carrying around ever since he'd found out about the baby, she felt. He wrote all these things there that had to do with the pregnancy and the baby in one way or another, and she found it sweet. It was just like him. "I'm getting a tutor, right?" That was what she had figured, when she'd spoken about it with Santana.

"Yes," her father nodded. "With your due date in October, the easiest thing would be for you to go back to McKinley in January after the holidays instead of September. It's still you though, and if you want another solution we can try and think of one. Personally I'd say that this is the best one though."

"No, it's alright," she promised. "So… who's going to tutor me? I mean my teachers get frustrated with me, but one of them said it's because they don't have a choice to teach me."

"Who said that?" he asked, and she shrugged. He sighed. "We'll find someone good, I promise," he told her and she nodded.

She kind of wanted to run the whole living situation conundrum by him. After she'd talked about it all with Kurt the other day, it had gotten her thinking. She hadn't found any sort of answer yet, and she was sure if she put it to him then, he would open his notebook to a new page and he would start thinking it through. But maybe that wasn't the way they should do it.

"Hey." She'd been distracted, and at his voice she looked up. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, promise," she shook her head, smiling so he'd see she was fine. "Just tired, I guess."

"Well that's normal," he turned on a smile. "I'll let you get back up there, let you know when I've got more about your tutor." They got up, and he kissed the side of her head, as he would, which would make her smile. She went up to her room, lying back down on her bed as she had. She wasn't aiming to fall asleep. She still preferred to have her naps when Santana was there to keep an eye on her, though she was getting less fearful about the whole thing. It had been different at first, but the longer she lived like this, the easier it got… she guessed that was how things worked.

She didn't really like the idea of not being in school with her friends for the first few months of junior year, but she had to think about it from the point of view of who she'd become, sometime in those few months. She'd be mother to the baby in her belly, and those few months would allow her to be there with him when he was still… new, and needing to get the attention he deserved from her.

At some point, she must have fallen asleep despite herself. The next thing she knew, she was curled up, startled by a sound… "Sorry!" She opened her eyes to find it was her sister sitting on the ground by her bed, with a book open in her lap. Melinda was barely seven, and already read and loved to read, much more than Brittany ever had.

"It's okay," she blinked, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. "What are you doing there?"

"Just reading," she shrugged.

"Here?" She looked back down to her book.

"Yeah…" Brittany brought herself closer to the edge of the bed so she could reach out, touch her sister's head. "You had nightmares, I didn't want you to be alone," Melinda looked to her.

"You did that?" Brittany smiled, and the girl nodded. "Come here," she scooted back. When she did, lying next to her, Brittany wrapped her around her, making her giggle. "Thanks, Mels." She lay there for a moment, looking at her sister. Her hair was a light brown, but her eyes were blue like hers. A lot of the time she seemed so wise, but then other times she'd show her age, their mother would say, like now with the whole business with the baby. "Are we okay, you and me?"

"Yes?" Melinda frowned, confused. "Why?"

"And the baby…" Brittany forged on, and the small girl broke eye contact for a split second. "Mom and Dad aren't going to…"

"It's not Mom and Dad," Melinda shook her head, and Brittany frowned, kissing her little sister's head.

"I won't forget you either. I promise."

TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)