Hey everyone! Just wanted to admit my own mistake… I kept calling the Starlight Gala the Starry Night festival. I think I mixed up my hm games… Anyways, fixing it this time around. Enjoy the chapter!

Early morning, standing in front of Fritz' door, knocking loudly. Last time I did this I ended up conceiving a child. This time it's different though.

It's the day of the Starlight Gala, and all I have on my mind is one goal: by the end of the night Fritz will know he's going to be a father. Marian's right, he should know. Talking to Lillie made me feel a lot better. She was fine with me being pregnant, maybe other people will be too. Maybe Fritz will react well.

The doorknob turns as he opens the door, looking just as tired as the last time I greeted him at this time. Although this time he is fully dressed since it's at least past 5AM. "Annie?" He rubs his eyes lazily, "What are you doing here?"

I take in a deep breath. "Well… I wanted to ask if you wanted to go to the Starlight Gala with me."

He pauses and leans against the doorframe, crossing his arms. "Are you serious?"

Could've predicted that response. "Yeah… Look I know it's weird but I have to talk to you. It's really important."

"Then talk to me now. I'm right here Annie." He sighs.

"I can't right now. I have an appointment at the doctors in about fifteen minutes." I tell him. That's not a lie, I set up an appointment with Marian after some particularly bad morning sickness.

This makes him pause again as he drops his arms. "Doctor? Are you okay?"

"Just getting over a flu." I lie. I don't think the thought of me being pregnant even runs through his head. It's not exactly the most common problem to happen to people in this town.

"Oh… Well fine. I'll see you tonight then." He says, looking a bit less annoyed than when he first saw me. "And good luck with your flu."

I nod and smile lightly. It takes a moment before he gives me a small smile back and turns back into his house and closes the door. It feels so good to see him smile, even if it's just a little piece of my heart feeling better over what I did to him I'll take it. A month ago it would be almost impossible to imagine Fritz without his smile. Now it's become harder to remember him with it, so just seeing a little light of some happiness there makes me feel happier. I never wanted to hurt him, I still don't want to hurt him.

I start to walk towards the clinic, feeling the unmistakable turning of my stomach. The baby is probably tiny right now, what could it possibly being doing in there that's making me feel so sick? In a weird way, I didn't exactly mind the morning sickness most days. It's usually the only times during the day that I really stop and think about everything. How I'm actually going to have a baby. When I'm sitting in the bathroom feeling horribly sick, it's the only time I'm just thinking of the baby, not of me or Fritz. Just how I'm going to keep the little baby happy once it's finally in my life.

But when I'm walking down just a path towards town, morning sickness isn't as pleasant.

Somehow I manage to get to the clinic without losing my breakfast, but I stop once I'm at the guild and sink down into one of the chairs. I take a few deep breaths to try and get my stomach to stop turning.

"Annie?" I look up and see Veronica. "Are you alright?" She sits down beside me and takes one of my hands in the motherly way she deals with people. My stomach flips again as I close my eyes, trying to will the sickness away.

"Yeah. Just the baby is really messing with my stomach."

"The baby?"

I freeze, mentally trying to find a way out of the conversation but coming up with nothing. Pissed at myself for letting it slip. I wasn't even thinking when I said it. I swallowed and looked back at her. "Yes… The baby. I'm pregnant and I'm here to talk to Marian…"

Her face drops as well as my heart. All I can think of is Lillie giving me a big hug, telling me congratulations about the baby. Just based off Veronica's face I can tell that this will be far from that situation.

"You're… Pregnant." She repeats, letting go of my hand. "But you're not married."

"I know…" Every bit of confidence I have is gone as I'm reduced to about a small girl getting scolded by her mother.

"Annie, it's none of my business but why? A child needs a stable family." She says. "I don't know how common this is where you come from, but here we expect a couple to be prepared before they have a child. This was reckless."

Where you come from. It hits me almost like a freight train. She's not appalled by this because I'm an unmarried pregnant girl. She's appalled by this because it's me. Because I'm the outsider causing some scandal in her town. If it was Lillie, I doubt this would be her reaction. For the first time in a while I feel completely like an outsider. Oak Tree has felt like family to me, but really none of it was real. They still see me as the outsider.

She continues, "You aren't even in a relationship. What did you expect would happen?"

I swallow and wipe my eyes. Damnit, she can scold me like a child but she will not see me cry. "You're right, it's none of your business." I stand up and swiftly walk to the clinic, leaving the guild master behind.

I walk into the clinic and see Marian right away, Angela filling out a form at one of the desks. Marian sees me and pauses. "Angela, can you give us a moment?"

Angela looks up and sees me, then back to Marian and nods. She picks up her clipboard and walks out of the clinic, shutting the door behind her. Marian walks over to me and pulls me into a tight hug. "Annie are you alright?"

I can't even respond. For a week I've kept my emotions down, just kept working and didn't talk to anyone about it. I finally felt alright after talking to Lillie, after seeing her reaction. Now all I feel is dread. What if Lillie was some weird exception? She's nice about everything, so baby news wouldn't be any different. What if the rest of the town is like Veronica, will treat my baby and I like just some problem?

For the first real time… I genuinely feel completely alone.

End of chapter! So I'm feeling really inspired to write this story, so it's kind of taking lead over the other two stories I have going on. But since my inspiration is flowing, you can expect another chapter pretty soon, possibly within the next day even if I get it out. Thanks for reading!