Timothy rushed into the clinic before catching the bus to school to drop off a copy of The Lancet to that his dad left at home that morning. He walked in to see three ladies standing by the door talking and walked up to the front desk where his mom was sitting, preparing the medical records that his dad would need for the day.

"Timothy, you should be at the bus stop by now" said his mom

"I know I just came by to give dad his copy of The Lancet so he could have something to read during his lunch break" he replied

Shelagh grabbed The Lancet from his hands and thanked him for taking the time to bring it by. Just as he was about to leave the office, his mom turned pale and began to gag as if she was about to be sick. She ran towards the restroom. He stood by the desk and waited for her to come out to make sure that she was okay before he left for school. Minutes later she came out and said

"Timothy, I know that you have to catch the bus soon and if there was another way, I would do it, but can you please sit at the front desk, I still need another minute. "

"I will" he replied

She rushed back to the restroom as he took a seat in the chair. He looked at the clock, knowing that he was pushed for time, but that wasn't important right now, he just hoped that his mom would be okay. For the most part nothing too crazy happened, until the phone rang. He answered the phone and said "Hello?"

"Yes this is Mary Jennings, my husband is having another back spasm and he has ran out of his medicine, I was wondering if you could call him in another prescription for me? His name is Andrew Jennings." she said

"No, I'm afraid Dr Turner's been called to an emergency" he replied

"He is really hurting right now and needs his medicine, can you call it in?" Mary asked

"No, I can't prescribe" said Timothy

"why not?" she replied

"because I'm only 15" he answered in a sassy tone.

Just as he hung up the phone, he was relieved to find Sister Winifred walking up to the front desk, but she had a concerted look on her face.

Where is your mom?" she asked

"She suddenly felt really ill" he replied

"She asked me to sit here for a minute, because she couldn't leave the medical records unattended" he added

"Leave this to me, and run for your bus" said Sister Winifred

"Don't forget to comb you hair" she added

Only then he remembered he forgot to comb his hair because he had to finish the math homework he forgot to do the previous night and lost track of time. Timothy was so glad that Sister Winifred was taking over, he rushed out of the clinic and after running to the bus stop, he hopped on the bus just when the driver was about to close the doors.

The opening of the front door had waken Timothy up out of a deep sleep that night. His dad must have just now been getting home. This is not the first time his dad's late arrivals have woken him up, but he began to hear talking coming from the living room, which was strange because normally he would go straight to bed when he arrived home at this late hour. He couldn't quite make out what there were saying all the the way over from his bed with the door closed, so he decided to tiptoe over to his bedroom door and put his ear to the closed door. He knew that eavesdropping on his parents was probably not a smart idea, but its not like he was going to be able to go to sleep with the conversation going on in the living room and curiosity got the best of him.

"Why didn't you leave the scene as soon as help arrived?" asked Patrick in a stern tone

Timothy realized that his dad was talking about earlier that day when his mom witnessed a terrible explosion at the docks.

"As a nurse, I felt like it was my duty to help in every way I possibly could to serve the community. I would have felt like a terrible person if I would have just walked away when the extra personnel arrived" she answered back in a defensive tone

"Shelagh, I'm sorry for making you feel like that you couldn't do your job, but I was so worried about you, you could have gotten really hurt and can't bear the thought of losing you or the baby" he replied in a loving tone

Timothy couldn't believe what he had just heard. His mom pregnant? But how? Well from reading medical journals he knew how, but he remembered mom being really sad when she came back from the doctor three years ago and then later when his parents decided to adopt Angela. He didn't understand at the time, but now he knew that she was sad because she found out she couldn't have a baby. Everything began to make sense, why his mom was sick three days ago when he had to sit at the front desk and every morning after watching her not eat breakfast and sometimes he could tell she wasn't feeling well in the afternoons. This would also explain why she was going to bed earlier than usual and why her and dad seemed happier than usual. He heard them walking towards the hall and he tiptoed back to bed as fast as he could. Now he couldn't go back to sleep with the new information he heard and debated if he should keep quiet of confront his parents. Eventually he got tired and fell back to sleep, unsure of what would happen next.

That next morning he got ready in a hurry and grabbed a bread from the pantry to get to the bus stop early that morning. He didn't know how long he could pretend that his mom's pregnancy was still a secret to him, so by getting out of the house as soon as he could that morning helped him buy some time. At school that day, he had a hard time focusing in class. Why were they keeping this from him? How far along was his mom? When were they going to tell him and Angela? How long did they know? were some of the questions that floated in his mind. When he got home from school that day. When he got home that day, he ate his after school snack and made small talk with his mom and then retreated to his room to do homework. Before he knew it, Shelagh called the family to the kitchen to eat dinner and he left his room to head to the kitchen.

As he ate his food, he really tried to act normal, but he was bothered by the fact that his parents were carrying on normal conversation knowing that they had such big news that they thought he didn't know.

"How was your day at school" asked his dad

"good" he replied

"that's all I get?" his dad said in said in joking tone

"I went to school and learned stuff and then I came home" he answered in a dull tone

After he said that, he watched his parents exchanged a concerned look and he knew that something was wrong.

"Did something bad happen at school today?" asked his mom

"No it was just another day at school" he replied

"Then what is it?" asked his dad

He knew that he could make up something to keep his cover a little longer, but he didn't want to keep this secret of his knowledge of his mom's current condition to himself any longer. He didn't like having this secret between them and wanted things to go back to normal.

After the pause in conversation, he looked at Shelagh and said "mom, I know that you're pregnant"

His parents had a shocked look on their faces when he told them the truth and then they looked at each other once again with a concerned look filled with a little panic. He could tell that they were not sure what to say next.

Finally his dad asked "How long have you known?"

"Since last night, when you came home, it woke me up and I heard you and mom's conversation in the living room" he replied

"I have been so worried about you mom since you were sick at the clinic four days ago with no sign of getting better as time passed or seeing a doctor" he added

"We were going to sit you and Angela down yesterday and tell you the news, but then the dock explosion happened and everything turned into chaos, we were trying to wait for right time to tell you, but it is clear that we waited too long " said mom

"This is a surprise for us too and we got lost in the shock of it all. We are so sorry for keeping it from you for as long as we did" his dad added

"That's okay" he said

"I am excited to welcome a new brother or sister to the family, I just have one question" he added

"What is it?" asked his dad

"Would I still get the same pocket money, I wouldn't get a third?" he said as he broke out into laughter