(( Hey everyone, one weekish update... YAY :) Thank you everyone who reveiwed this passed chapter, it really means a lot to me. You all modivate me to write more 3

So I'll be going out of town for another tournament this weekend so I really wanted to get this out so my readers have something to do while I'm gone and unable to write. That being said, my next reveiw might not be as soon as I hope (because I usually use the weekends for my writing time) but I'll do all I can for you all :)

Enjoy :) ))

I don't own Harvest Moon or any related characters, ideas, themes, etc.

Chapter 7

I was swallowed in complete and udder white. White walls, white floor, white curtains, white chairs, everything around me was white. The only splash of color in the whole establishment had to be my grandfather and I, who sat in the pristine white chairs. The room was engulfed in a silence, besides the sound of the clock ticking. Jail had to be something like this. And right now, I don't know where I would have rather been.

It had been hard, but I had no choice but to tell my grandfather about the situation. I had contemplated keeping it to myself for awhile—just until I could come up with the perfect way to tell him—but there wasn't anything I could of told him, besides the truth, to excuse myself from work for all the doctor visits and time spent preparing for the baby. There was no way I could just show up to work with a baby in my hand. Grandpa would kill me.

"When I said you should thinking about starting a family, I didn't mean the next day," Grandpa whispered to me, "This is extremely irresponsible of you, Gray. I'm very disappointed," I looked over to him, but said no words. Every since Claire dropped this bomb on me I haven't really been able to say much anyway.

"I'm pregnant,"

How are you supposed to react when someone tells you that, let alone someone who's closer to an acquaintance than friend? The one mistake I made just had to lead to this. I had no idea what I was going to do; I didn't even know for a hundred percent fact she was even pregnant, she could of messed up somewhere along the line. There was no way to even know whether she was going to keep it or not. I would be stuck with her for the next eighteen years… and we'd have a child. Together.

This had to be some sort of sick dream I was stuck in. This whole ordeal seemed completely surreal.

"Gray," I looked up to see the tall dark haired doctor Trent standing before me, "I'd like you to come back with me. I want to talk to you two, together," I silently nodded and followed the man behind the while curtains.

Sitting at the only examination table in the room, was Claire. She still looked like a wreck; it was a sad sight to see. I had to imagine it had to be hard on both of us to be utterly blindsided by all this, but the emotional toll on Claire had to be unbearable. Her face remained blank as we entered the room. I couldn't read a single emotion on Claire.

"So," The doctor started as he diligently examined his clipboard, "Good news, Claire you are in fact pregnant. Congratulations," Claire and I both knew as well as the other this wasn't exactly good news.

"Thank you, Doctor," Claire said softly. There was an underlying tone in her voice, it sounded like she wasn't really all there.

"Anyways, I'd like both of you to come in for monthly appointments up until the baby is born sometime in mid spring for ultrasounds and a check up for Claire to make sure everything is doing okay," The doctor said smoothly, observing our emotions.

"Ah…okay," Claire started.

"You are planning on keeping it, aren't you?" The doctor asked softly. Claire looked over to me, meeting my questioning gaze. The room remained silent as we stayed in a steady eye lock. I didn't know what she was going to do. What if she did… want to get rid of it?

Claire spoke up moments later, breaking the heavy silence. She glanced in my direction as she talked, "Yes, I'm going to keep it," I couldn't say that I wasn't surprised; an abortion in a place like this was almost completely unheard of. I doubt the doctor would have even performed one on her if she would have decided so.

In a way I was relived she was keeping it, it was my child of course. But at the same time I was petrified. In no way was I ready to be a father.

"Okay, wonderful," The doctor said, "So will you both be attending? It would be very beneficial if both of you were on the same page during each stage of the pregnancy," The doctor carried his gaze over to meet mine.

"Oh, uh yea I guess so," I said as a played with the bill of my hat.

"Good," He said as he took his eyes off solely me, "Well congratulations you guys, thank you for coming in. Claire you can check out with Eli as you leave," She nodded and we both began exiting the room. But before I could exit, the doctor caught my arm. "Gray, I'd like to have a word with you. In private," I followed the taller man back behind the curtain.

"Yeah, sure Trent… what's up?" I said a tad nervously.

"I hope you're planning on being a part of the baby and Claire's lives," He said sternly. His dark almond eyes pierced right though mine. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

"Of course…" I started, "I plan on being active in the baby's childhood and thereafter," He raised an eyebrow at me.

"And what about Claire?"

"What about her? She's a big girl," I retorted.

"You don't understand, Gray. Claire is going to need you now more than ever, and you need to be there for not only the baby but for her," He quickly replied.

"But I-"

"How do you expect her to do her farm work while she's six months pregnant?" He interrupted. I remained silent. "Exactly. Are you two even together, Gray?"

"I don't really think that's any of your business, Trent," I said flatly. He crossed his arms and glared.

"So I take that as a no," He said, "Then you especially owe it to her to be there for her if you were really that careless as to get her knocked up,"

"It's… I didn't even…" I trailed off. He turned his back and began walking back to his desk.

"I really do hope to see you at the next appointment," He said, "You're free to go,"

I huffed and stomped out of the office. Trent was a dick. Just because he had been in a strong relationship with his nurse, Eli, for a year or two didn't justify him to tell me how to take care of my personal affairs. Actually, it gave him no right what's so ever. He had no clue what either of us was going through; Trent had never been in a position like this. He didn't even know Claire anyway. She had been working her ass off on a dump of a farm alone. She didn't need me, or anyone else for that matter to baby her.

I was greeted by my grandfather and Claire in the main room of the clinic. We silently filed out of the establishment. As we were hit with the warm summer winds, Claire turned to both my grandfather and I.

"If you guys don't mind, would you both like to come over for tea… to sort out this situation?" She said, not making direct eye contact with either of us. I glanced over to my grandpa. He didn't even look my way.

"Yes, dear that would be a wonderful idea," He said politely, "Right, son?" I took a deep breath and nodded as I began fidgeting with the brim of my cap. We followed Claire on the short walk to her farm in a complete silence. No one of us wanted to speak up; there really wasn't anything to say anyway.

Minutes later we arrived on her farm. It had been awhile since I had seen her farm in broad daylight. It looked awesome; she must have been putting in crazy amounts of hours during the week. Now that I'd mentioned it, I never did see her around town. The brief times I would see her wandering about the town was when she would go to the supermarket for food and seeds, the clinic for medicine, the two animal farms for what I presumed were animal related purchases, at the blacksmith for tool upgrades, and on occasion at the Inn for dinner and or drinks. Those had to be the only times I really did see her. And of course, we never said a word. I would watch her hastily make her way up from the farm through the blacksmith window while she carried about her day, in the least creepy way possible. I wasn't stalking her or anything.

Grandpa and I followed Claire into her humble home and asked us to take a seat in the dinning room. I looked around the main room. She had cleaned up after I left last night; all the blankets she had cocooned herself with had been neatly folded up and set on the arm of her sofa, and all together the appearance of the place all together seemed more organized.

She excused herself into the smaller kitchen to prepare us all some tea. As she walked away my grandfather used this as another opportunity to completely ridicule me.

"Well, I guess out of all the girls you could have got pregnant you chose a polite one," He said, obviously trying to be funny.

"Shut up," I replied curtly. "This is serious. I brought you with me because I trust you, not because I wanted you to make fun of me,"

"Then you shouldn't of been careless and got a nice girl pregnant," He snapped. I chose to stay silent, knowing there wasn't anything I could really say without starting a scene in Claire's home. We both stayed contently silent until Claire returned back with three cups in one hand and a kettle in the other. She set a mug in front of each of our respective spots and began pouring in the piping hot liquid.

"Thank you for having us over, Claire," Grandpa said with a smile.

"Oh it's my pleasure, I don't really have people over that often… so it's nice," She said softly.

"Well it really is nice of you," He replied. We all looked around in an awkward silence. No one really knew where to go from here. I took the initiative to attempt to spark conversation on the topic we all knew we wanted to talk about.

"So… what exactly did you want to discuss, Claire?" I asked hesitantly. My words seemed to catch her off guard.

"Oh… ah yea that is why you're here in the first place," She said with a nervous laugh. I nodded with an awkward forced smile. Her tone got significantly more serious as she spoke again, "I just want to know honestly and please don't lie to me…are you going to be part of the baby's life? Because you need to decide now, it's either yes or no. I'm not going to stay here and raise a child by myself...I would probably go back to the city with my family…"

"Claire…" I hesitated.

"What is it going to be, Gray?" She asked forcefully.

"Of course I'm going to be a part of its life… what kind of person do you take me for?" I said almost a little hurt she had to ask me.

"I had to ask because honestly I don't know what kind of person you really are," Claire said sheepishly.

"So you two barely know each other and you're having a child together?" Grandpa interrupted.

"Butt out, Gramps," I said to the old man next to me.

"You know, in my day something like this was almost completely unheard of. Even in a town like this, if news gets around it'd be a complete scandal. But when I was your age, when things like this happened they would immediately get married. I reckon that what you 'oughta do," I spit out all the liquid in my mouth in utter surprise to my grandfather's words.

"W-what?" I exclaimed. Claire looked just as shocked as I did. Grandpa stayed perfectly content with his words.

"You heard what I said," He said.

"Uh… well I don't really know if that would really be necessary…" Claire started uneasily. She gazed over to me almost in a questioning matter. I didn't know what to say to her. Marriage? What in the world was happening to my life?

"We'll save this discussion for later on in the pregnancy," my grandfather spouted, "But I think you two should really consider it. If you guys could even begin to understand the outrage of the town if everyone found out two unmarried people were having a child together, you'd side with me," His last statement left a lasting impression in my mind. Everyone in town seemed very easy going and carefree when it came to their simple daily lives, but I knew just from being around Mary and her family that situations like Claire's and mine would most be subjected to scrutiny and gossip among the towns folk. In Claire's position would be extremely difficult for her being new and all, and I sympathized with her. But marriage…I couldn't do it.

"Um… okay, thank you Saibara for your insight," Claire said as nicely as she could force out. She and I both knew that what he was spouting about was complete nonsense, but in order to get his support throughout the pregnancy she knew kissing his ass was the best move.

"Well, anyways," Grandpa said as he got up from his chair at the table, "If you two excuse me I'll be at the Inn for supper," I started to get up too, I mean I was hungry too. But then Grandpa spoke again, "Gray, you 'oughta stay here,"

"Huh?"

"You heard me, boy," He said, "Take this opportunity to get to know the damn girl since from what I've seen you two both barely know a thing 'bout the other. And I'm sure Claire wouldn't mind having some company," We both looked over to the blonde, obviously not paying attention to Grandpa and my conversation, who sat contently in her chair sipping her tea. A few seconds later her head finally snapped up and the words registered in her head.

"O-oh!" She exclaimed, "Yes of course you're welcome to stay if you'd like," Her cheeks slowly became pigmented with a reddish tint. She was pretty cute when she blushed. Ugh, what in the word was I thinking? I didn't really want to stay alone here with Claire making awkward idle chit chat.

"Well good, see you tomorrow, son," But I guess that's what I was going to be stuck here doing.

I turned to the still blushing blonde. I sat back down at the table across from her but still she didn't speak. She was going to make this very difficult for me.

"So… what do you think I should know about you?" I asked flatly. She took of her tea, probably thinking of an answer to such a vague question.

"Well… twenty one, I'll be twenty two in autumn. I came from the city two around two seasons ago… Umm… I finished college just before last summer. I'm allergic to peanuts…I don't really know what else to tell you," She said with a real laugh. I half smiled at that.

"Why did you come here then? If you had graduated college? You could have been in a lot better place than this," I asked the blonde. She took another sip.

"It's complicated," She said quickly, "It's not really that important anyway… I'll save that story for a rainy day," I remained quiet. "So what should I know about you?"

"I'm also from the city…was sent here years back when I was 19. I never went to college…I barely finished high school," I started as I fiddled with my hat, "Umm… I'll be twenty four in winter. I love corn. That's it,"

"Sent here?" she asked.

"Ah yeah…by my parents a few years back," I said scratching at the back of my head.

"Why?" She asked, now intrigued.

"I wasn't exactly a great kid," I said with a bit of a laugh, "I ditched classes a lot, went to parties, and didn't exactly do homework…. I guess I just hung out with the wrong crowd at that age. So when I didn't get into any colleges my parents had had it and sent me our here hoping my grandpa could whip me into shape,"

"Oh," She said, "So if it was up to here you wouldn't be here?"

"No… probably not," I said, "But granted I wouldn't be in as good of as a place I am now if I wouldn't of. I'd probably be living on the streets working at some fast food joint," I laughed to myself, "I mean… I was mad at my parents for awhile. I ignored phone calls, letters, the whole thing for a few months… but by the time I realized they had actually helped me, I was basically cut out of the family,"

"I'm so sorry," Claire said sympathetically. She reached across the table and placed her hand on mine, "I'm always here for you if you need me to be. Have you tried contacting them recently?"

"Meh… it's not really worth it anymore," I said with a shrug, "I got over it awhile ago. If they don't want me around I guess it's for the better," Claire frowned. Oh well, there was nothing she, or I, could do about it. Shit happens.

"Well… there is a good thing," Claire said sheepishly.

"What would that be?"

"This is the longest we've talked without you being drunk, yelling at me, or apologizing to me," I laughed. What a stupid thing to say.

"Ha, yeah I guess so," She smiled at me from across the table. And not that annoying toothy grin, but a genuine smile. It was one of the first smiles I had seen from her.

"Do you like being a blacksmith?" She quickly asked. I had to think about that for a second or two. Did I?

"Umm… Yea I mean I guess. I've just been so accustomed to doing it for so long that I can't even tell if I enjoy it," I said with a deep breath.

"Why would you do something that you don't enjoy?"

"I didn't say that I didn't enjoy it,"

"But you also didn't say you did," She said with a smirk.

"Just shut up and let me explain myself, okay?" She nodded, "I like what I do. I just don't like my grandfather being a prick,"

"Then don't be an ass and piss him off," She said.

"It's not like I purposely do ass-y things to piss him off! He just gets so butt-hurt so easily," I said. Why did she care so much anyway?

"Saibara?" She asked, "But he seems so nice!"

"You don't know the half of it," I scoffed.

"Well I think one day you'll be a great blacksmith like him," Claire said with a smile, "it may not be for awhile… but I think you can,"

"Uh… thanks I think?" I said. I felt my face getting warmer, "You really know how to give a compliment," She laughed.

"Thanks. I try," She joked.

"And do you like farming?" I asked. She placed a finger to her lips in thought.

"It's different," Claire said, "I never thought I would be doing anything like this…ever,"

"Then why are you doing it?"

"Just cause," She said, "I like it a lot more than I would have thought. I like the harvesting, and the animals, and just this whole town is amazing. The city was never like this. So I guess for my final answer is yes, I like it,"

"That's cool," Claire really wasn't that bad. I hadn't talked to someone so easily in a long, long time.

"Well I guess this day wasn't quite as bad as I thought it was going to be," Claire said with a small laugh. "Thanks," We both got up from a spots at the table and began walking towards her door.

"Thanks for having me," I said as I tugged at my hat, "It's nice to say I actually know something about you now,"

"Yeah, I liked this… we should do it again sometime," She said hesitantly, "I mean it wouldn't hurt to know a thing or two about the father of my child,"

"I guess it wouldn't hurt," I said. Claire was always the bluntest.

"Well I'll see you later," She said as she opened the front door. I began walking out.

"See ya," I muttered as a started walking away from the farm house.

"Gray, wait," Claire called from the doorway. I turned to face the blonde with a questioning glance.

"Yea what's up?" I asked.

"Tomorrow… do you want to get dinner with me at the Inn?" Claire asked confidently. It was a bit of a surprising question.

"Uh yea… sure," I replied.

"Okay! Awesome… I'll see you tomorrow," She called to me. I waved and began my path to the Inn.

In some way, I was looking forward to tomorrow. Maybe this all wasn't going to be as bad as I'd assumed.