Chapter 4

It was the day after her eighteenth birthday (November 20th) and Kiefer still called at least twice a day. She'd answered just to break up with him. She'd even gone so far as to lie and say that the baby was Ethan's but still he just kept calling. He said the sweetest things some times but then he would get so nasty. After emptying the contents of her stomach and getting ready for the day she left her bathroom and saw Sam sitting on her bed.

"Are you sick?"

"No, what are you doing in my room?" She hated how everyone felt they could just invade her space when ever they felt like it.

"I heard you throwing up."

"Well I … it's nothing"

"You' re pregnant aren't you. Why haven't you been taking your pills?"

"I'm not… fine. Yes, I'm going to have a baby." Kristina was tired of lying. She had plans to tell her mother and everyone would find out eventually, so what did it matter if Sam knew.

"We went to Dr. Lee and discussed planned parenthood and birth control why weren't you being responsible?"

"After Kiefer left for school they weren't as necessary, I had no idea he'd be coming back at every opportunity. I have so much going on in my life that remembering to take some little pill was not as important plus Kiefer and I usually use condoms."

"I don't want to know about your love life. Eww…"

"Well don't ask. Stop butting in. I'm going to raise this baby without any help from anyone."

"Don't tell me Kiefer broke up with you."

"No, I broke things off with him. I want to be a single mom."

"No woman wants to be a single mom. Speaking of moms, I'm assuming Alexis knows nothing about this."

"I wanted to be an adult before I told her." It sounded stupid once she said it out loud but it was the truth. Everyone treated her like she was a child as if she couldn't make up her own mind. She wanted to prove to her mom that she was capable of handling her own affairs.

"Well, you are that but being a mom is a big responsibility."

"I know and I'm ready to give it a shot" Kristina said hoping she sounded self assured.

"You don't have to do this alone Krissy, mom and I are always here for you no matter what."

"I know, I need to prove to myself that I can do this." Sighing she said "I promise to tell mom everything after dinner tonight."

"So, I'm going to be an Aunt." Sam said trying to be happy for baby sister

"Yeah, you okay with this?" she asked softly

"I've known for a long time that I wouldn't be able to have kids of my own and after Hope, I just don't think adoption is for me."

"I'm sorry"

"Don't worry. It's not your fault, I'll just get to spoil your kids rotten." Sam hugged her sister.

--

--

Kristina had to admit that she loved being able to bond with her sister but after dinner that night she was more than a little nervous. She waited until Molly went to bed then went to her mother's room and knocked on her door.

"Yes"

"Hey mom it's just me"

"Kristina is something wrong?"

Kristina sat down on the bottom of her mother's bed. Alexis was sitting up reading a book when she'd first entered, after Kristina sat down Alexis removed the glasses that had been perched on her nose.

"Mom can we talk."

"Sure you know you can talk to me about anything."

Kristina had rehearsed her speech over and over in her head but she just couldn't seem to find the words, in the end she just blurted out the truth.

"I'm pregnant."

Alexis either didn't hear her or she went into shock, Kristina could have sworn a full minute of silence went by before her mother spoke.

"You're …"

"I'm sorry mom." The tears started and just didn't stop. "I thought I was in love but I wasn't I tried to be careful but everything just got so complicated I wanted to tell you when I first found out but… everything just… I… we planned for me to go to Yale then to law school just like you did but this is something I want…" she sniffled, " I've given it a lot of thought I know you think I'm too young and I agree but this is now and it is my fault, my responsibility, I don't want to be that girl." She sobbed, Alexis wanted to yell, scream, and rant but she held her tongue because her daughter needed her.

"Its okay sweetheart, everything will be fine."

"Mom, I really didn't mean to screw things up but I have to face this I can't hide or let you take care of it for me. This baby is my responsibility."

"Of course it is. Do you know how far along you are?"

"I guess about nine weeks. After my accident, that's when I found out, the doctor said I was 7 weeks along."

"Have you been checked out. Yes." After Meeting with Dr. Graham, he'd had Dr. Lee look her over since she was pitching in for a friend of hers at Mercy. She had been grateful to have Ethan stay with and drive her home.

"You saw Dr. Lee?"

"Yeah I spoke with Dr. Graham and he said that it was best to see my usual doctor."

"What did she say?"

"I'm fine, the baby's fine" No thanks to Kiefer.

That night they had a serious mother-daughter discussion. After discussing Kristina's plans, they both retired for the night.

--

--

Kristina had a lot of time to think on everything, she had to be the one to take care of her child. She had to have that responsibility, after what happened with Claudia's car accident, she couldn't deal with some one else cleaning up her mistakes again. She wouldn't run away, it was up to her to fix her life. She figured that her first course of business was getting Kiefer off her back. He'd finally stopped calling but that didn't mean he was done with her. Kristina knew him well enough to know that he would want to get even.

"Ethan thanks for coming over"

"Yeah, um no problem. What'd you need?"

"Well, I wanted to give you an update. I would have told you over the phone but I just didn't want to be home alone." She hated being by herself because of Kiefer but she also really had some things to discuss with Ethan.

"Where's your mom?"

"She's in Manhattan for the weekend, Molly's sleeping over at a friend's house, and I'm bored." Deciding to tell him everything she continued, "Kiefer spread several rumors about me so school has been hell and none of my friends were truly my friends and I really needed to talk to a friend."

"Maybe we should sit."

"Thanks."

"You going to tell me what else happened?"

" Sam found out about the baby, I finally told my mom, and Kiefer finally stopped calling me. I threw his phone into the harbor." Shouldn't have accepted the phone in the first place, she thought angrily

"How'd your mom and sis take the news."

"Sam was upset, she made sure I was having safe sex only for me to end up a teen mom. But after it all sunk in she was happy about being an aunt. My mom… well I think I took her off guard so all she could do was pretend to be accepting but she doesn't seem to want to kill me. She's probably blaming herself. Molly doesn't know yet. She looks up to me and I just don't know how to tell her."

"You're still her big sis I'm sure you'll be able to keep her from …"

"…making the same mistakes I did. I hope so"

Ethan and her had an awkward couple of seconds before she stated up again. " Kiefer's home for thanksgiving break. Sharon texted me two days ago and said he was home…I sort of told him that he wasn't the father."

"Did he buy it?"

"He didn't at first but then I told him it was yours."

"What?" He seem just a bit upset at the idea so Kristina quickly covered.

"He's jealous of you. He claims that we were always flirting and hanging out behind his back. I know you aren't interested in me, and that you are just a charming rogue, but Kiefer saw me smile at you a few times and he swore that… any way with you coming to my rescue and his suspicions… I really needed him to stop bugging me."

"But couldn't you have just named some random bloke."

Kristina was taken back, she knew he didn't mean it the way it sounded but…

"I don't mean to imply that you would… but why me again?"

"You were the obvious choice. He would believe it was you. I have standards you know. I don't sleep around, Kiefer was it for me. But you have a great sense of humor and you are charming, so I occasionally flirt with you. Kiefer has witness us flirting plus no other guy I know at Madison Prep would touch me, to them I will always be Kiefer's girl."

"Yeah. I guess. But what about Sam and Alexis?"

"Oh they don't know anything definite but they assume its Kiefer's I have neither confirmed nor denied." Though I did sort of confirm it with Sam

"Okay"

"That's it."

"Well I should probably…" He rose to leave but Kristina stopped him.

"Wait, didn't you hear what I said, Kiefer is back he thinks we are together. I need you to help me lie to him"

"Sorry, love. I'd love to help but…"

"Oh come on, you said you would help me. You are a con man are you saying that you aren't skilled enough to fool some Ivy League rich kid." Kristina said crossing her arms over her chest hoping to appeal to his ego.

"I am the best but I need to benefit. What's in it for me?"

Putting her hand on her hip she sized him up, displaying her best come hither expression she said "Oh come on. I've offer you my body what else do you want?"

"You what?"

Kristina couldn't help but laugh at his confused expression.

"I'm just kidding" but I'd offer myself up in a second if I thought you'd agree "I accessed my trust fund from my father but I can't pay much"

"How long does this charade last?"

"Just through the holidays – Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.."

"That's a little over a month so I say $5000"

"That's a bit much."

"Take it or leave it"

"Deal, but you have to be seen in public with me. This isn't a behind the scenes affair. I expect you to be faithful."

"Don't worry I'll be on my best behavior."

--

-- All feedback welcome.