Nine long months passed. Months filled with Lamaze classes and ultrasounds. Drake picked up two different jobs and let his guitar gather dust in the corner of his room. He busted his butt working at the local pharmacy- he would get an awesome employee discount on diapers- and also picked up extra hours at the movie theater, where Helen graciously returned his job after hearing the news. Carly's parents still weren't thrilled about her decision to keep the baby. They endlessly reminded her that it was going to be an enormous responsibility, and they wouldn't be able to help her very much. This was something that if she was going to do, she was going to do virtually alone. She simply reminded them that she had Drake and said that this is what she wanted. And it was. In her heart, she truly believed she and Drake could do this…maybe they could even get married someday. It was every girl's dream, just 10 years too soon. Their parents didn't want the baby to live with Drake at all, at first. Since it was so young, it was going to need a constant living environment. Carly had known this was probably going to happen when she made the decision to keep her baby, so she was prepared. But it did make her a tad uncomfortable when Drake simply mumbled, "Fine by me."

But there was relentless bullying, too. She got endless bad looks from strangers in the grocery store or at the library. The woman in her Lamaze classes were all at least 25- she, at 16, was not only the youngest but the much youngest. People slut sneezed in the hallways, and sure, when Drake was walking beside her he'd shove them into the wall. But he wasn't always there. He wasn't always there in the morning, when she was throwing up, or at the end of the day, when her swollen ankles throbbed as if she'd been shot in them. It was hard for Carly, but she knew it was nothing compared with what was to come.

And it came. Oh, it came.

Exactly one month before she turned seventeen and two and a half months before Drake turned the big 1-8, she was sitting in her room, eating pistachios and noticing how grossly large she was, when she suddenly felt liquid all around her.

Shit, she thought to herself. After all, frequent urination was a sign of pregnancy, but she could normally tell when it was coming.

But when she noticed what it really was, she started whimpering.

"Mom!" she shrieked. "Mom!"

And there they were, in the hospital room. Carly was lying on the hospital bed with a doctor peering in between her legs. Her mother was holding her right hand, Drake holding her left.

"It's gonna be okay, baby. You just have to get through this," he reminded her. He had a ridiculously uncomfortable look on his face, but Carly knew he was trying his best.

But this was so weird. God, it was weird. He wanted kids, of course…eventually. But not now. And here was a girl who looked much too young, lying on a bed, giving birth. To a baby he had helped create.

"Push, Carly, hun," Dr. Markowitz ordered her. "You're so close. 10 centimeters. One more good push, and it'll be out."

"I can't," whimpered Carly, trying to turn on her side. "Give me drugs or something! Please!"

"You signed up for a natural birth, dear," Dr. Markowitz softly reminded her. "Just push. You can do it." She looked up and shot Drake a look. "Dad? You think you could help a little?"

Drake sighed and leaned down, putting his face right by Carly's. Their eyes met, and for just a moment, the look of wildfire in her bright blue eyes softened. "I can't," she murmured. Drake ran his fingers through her hair.

"You need to."

And with one more push, the head was coming. And the baby was sliding out and there it was, all disgusting looking. The doctor took it and washed it off, while proclaiming excitedly that Carly had done perfectly, and the baby was breathing normally, and that it was so beautiful. And that Carly and Drake now had a gorgeous little daughter, one that weighed 6 pounds, 12 ounces.

Dr. Markowitz handed the baby off to Carly, once it was cleaned and wrapped in a blanket. It still wasn't very cute, but man it's bright red skin was soft. It had tufts of brown hair, and it's blue eyes were closed, but she had all her fingers and toes.

Drake looked on as Carly held her daughter to her chest. "She's beautiful," she exclaimed breathlessly. "She's perfect. Just perfect." Carly looked up at Drake. "I knew it would come to me."

"What?" he asked, slightly coming out of the transfixed state he'd been in. Watching birth was the most exciting and disgusting and wonderful thing he'd ever watched.

"A name," she reminded him, an exhausted grin spread over her face. "Emma. She's Emma Rae Parker. That's all she is."

Drake felt a smile creep on his face. "Emma. It's perfect. She looks just like an Emma."

After the nurse had scrawled down the baby's name and time of birth, than ran outside to inform Drake's parents they could come in, Carly smiled tiredly up at Drake. "You want to hold your daughter?"

Did he? He didn't even know. But he held out his arms and felt Emma being gently placed in them. He held her in an awkward position and looked at her. She was going to be pretty, he could just tell. But he didn't see a miracle, like Carly did. He saw something that they had created. Something that was going to crush his dreams…and ruin his life, not improve it. He thought he'd finally feel better about Carly's decision when he had the kid in his arms. He loved her and he supported her and nothing, nothing could change that. But it was the beginning of one life and the end of another one. His.

He handed the baby off to his mother, who was cooing about how perfect she was, when he announced that he needed to go to the bathroom and took off. Once he was in a stall, he put his face in his hands and thought he'd start crying. But then he realized that this disappointment in himself was beyond tears.

A/N: I know, I'm updating rapid fire. But I can't stop writing this story!