Before I begin I wanna give a special shoutout to my girl rexjdk, because she's awesome and she reviewed, I was so happy! Her story for OLTL What A Guy Can Do is a must read for my OLTL peeps out there in fanfiction land, and you need to go read it now. I also wanna thank my follower/favorite aphass and rexjdk! You guys rock! So happy! Hope you guys enjoy!
She walked out of the hospital lab, stunned and numb. Destiny Evans didn't generally get scared or insecure often, but the results she held in her trembling hands currently were more than enough to scare even the bravest of 17 year old girls. She was currently a month pregnant with Matthew Buchanan's son or daughter.
Oh, she wasn't full of dread and she wasn't worried about what Matthew would say, of course, they'd discussed this at length since she alerted him to the fact that she could possibly be pregnant with his kid.. She was worried now, just how good she was going to be at being a mother while still trying to go to school and achieve her dreams, going on to college..
Because there had to be a way she could do both and do them well, she was determined to find it. Starr Manning, her best friend had when it happened to her and Cole Thornhartt, the two were now living out in California with Markko and Langston and their kids, happy. If Starr could do it, there had to be a way she could as well.
This wasn't the only vexing worry on her mind presently, however.. She was more worried about her parents, about Matthew's parents and how they were going to take all of this news, what they'd say and how they'd either try to interfere and take over or worse, have nothing farther to do with either teen or their grandson or daughter.
She sank down into a hard chair in the waiting room and leaned her head back against an ugly taupe stucco wall, squeezed her eyes shut to try and stop the tears from flowing. Gabrielle and Danielle exchanged silent glances and neither of the three girls had to say what the test had come back showing..
Their best friend Destiny Evans was about to become a mother at seventeen. And she was going to need both of them now more than she probably ever had before, and they were going to have to help her through the tough times ahead.
Because though neither girl spoke it, both girls knew that kids at Llanview High were exceptionally notorious for being nasty about things like this.. All they had to do for examples were look at the way rumors, nastier ones than the norm, actually, spread like wildfire through the halls.. Or at the way the 'it crowd' treated people like Shane Morasco..
Or of course, an example similar to Destiny's current situation, the way the entire school and at least half of the staff had frowned upon Starr Manning's pregnancy and tried even to get her expelled, which her mother had stubbornly fought against and won.
Either way, the three girls knew that Destiny was about to have her hands full and that their best friends days were about to be harder. And they knew that as her best friends, they had to try and do as much as they could to help Destiny and Matthew out.
Because there was no real way of knowing just how the Evans family or the Buchanan family was going to take this little piece of news.
Danielle hugged Destiny and said quietly, "You're not alone.. I'm going to tell you the same thing I told Starr when this happened with her and Cole.. If you need me for anything girl, just call." as Gabrielle nodded and said quietly, "If things go badly when you tell your parents, I know Brody's house isn't that big but... You know where I am, girl.. And I'll find a way to come get you, even if we gotta like borrow that kid down the street's bikes. I'm not gonna turn my back on you, okay?"
Destiny took a few huge deep breaths and said solemnly, "Thanks you guys.. I guess we should be getting back to our houses now, I texted Matthew.. I just.. I wanna walk home with you guys but me and Matthew think there's no sense in waiting and telling our parents later so we're gonna talk about it all then tell them tonight." as the three girls walked out of the hospital quietly, each worried about Destiny's future and what might happen or lie in store for her.
Matthew's car pulled up and Destiny got into it, waving at them from the passenger window. As Matthew drove away, Gabrielle shook her head quietly and said "You realize that those bitches like Tru or Whitney are gonna take this and twist it and cause problems for her.. Right?"
"Mhmm."
"Basically, we're gonna wind up fighting over half the cheer nazis at some point." Gabrielle mused quietly as Danielle nodded and said "People are so fucking small minded. It never fails to dampen my faith in humanity. I mean so what, they made a mistake. Doesn't mean they are bad people or anything.. And the fact that they both want to keep this baby and do their best to raise it.. That should show everyone how mature they are.. But it won't. All the teachers and people like my half brother and Tru, his other idiot friends are gonna see are a tramp who gave it up too soon and a skeeze who took it because it was offered.. And that's not how it went down. I mean we know that but they won't.. And they won't bother to figure it out because they'd rather make up a lie." as she took a few deep breaths.
"So.. Kinda makes this stupid boy trouble we have pale in comparison, huh?" Gabrielle asked moments later as she kicked at a rock with her sandal's wedge heel and looked at the ground intently. Danielle nodded and shuffling her feet said "It does."
"She's got us and she's got Matthew and his friends too. She won't be alone." Gabrielle stated firmly as Danielle nodded and then added "I just hope their parents don't turn their backs on them. I mean Starr's mom was cool about things. She didn't like what Starr had done, but she did admire and respect Starr's decision to keep Hope."
"I hope their parents respect their decision, whatever it is.. So.. Where to now?"
"Let's just go back to our houses in case things go down badly and she tries to find one of us." Danielle said after some intense thought. Gabrielle nodded and said "Yeah, I'd ra ther be there in case she needs to talk to us than be out where she can't. Besides, Brody is probably going to have a cow and four horses about my hair and stuff.. Kinda want to get that over with."
Danielle and Gabrielle laughed a moment and then fell silent again, walking to the end of the block then saying their goodbyes for the night and going their seperate ways to their houses.
Matthew hugged Destiny against him as they entered the Buenas Dias together to face their waiting parents. "We can do this.. If they tell us we won't or we can't then we'll leave. But we're not going to let them change our minds, okay? I promise, Desi.. If this is what you want, then I'm going to support you no matter what. I did help you make our baby, I'm not gonna just vanish."
She gave his hand a squeeze silently and looked around the diner. Their parents sat talking to each other amicably, and Matthew gave her one last kiss on the forehead before they finally gathered up the necessary nerve and walked over, ready to get this all out in the open.
"We kinda have to tell you guys something." Destiny said quietly as Shawn, her older brother, looked at them. He sighed and shook his head. Something was going on, Destiny looked more afraid than he'd seen the kid in her whole life almost. And Matthew looked scared but like he was trying to keep his game face on. Nora looked at her son as she took a bite of the burger sitting in front of her and asked with a light laugh, "So what's all this about?"
Clint and Beau turned to look at Matthew as well and Matthew sighed as he let Destiny sit down, having pulled out her chair for her, and then took the seat next to her. Destiny bit her lower lip and waited then said "Mom? Dad? You'll love me no matter what I do, right?"
Her parents reassured her they would, but exchanged concerned looks with each other privately. Neither set of parents were reassured about the conversation their kids had called them here for thus far. Something was definitely going on.
Matthew took a deep breath and asked the same of his parents. They also reassured him and then Destiny and Matthew took a long look at each other before blurting out "She's pregnant and it's mine and we want to keep the baby and raise it together" and "I'm pregnant, Mom and Dad, and I'm going to keep my baby and raise it with Matthew. I'm also going to work on a way to keep on going to school, finish and go on to college."
"She is. I told her she's not giving up her plans. I still want to take business classes and work at BE when I graduate too." Matthew reassured Destiny's parents who looked at him as if he'd done the most vile thing known to man.
Nora, Beau and Clint gaped at Matthew in shock. And then, five minutes later, the flooding of parental questions and concerns started and both Destiny and Matthew began to work to try and calm down their parents. A fight started about who was the worse parent, seeing as how the teenagers did this thing that was a bad one, and someone had to be to blame.
"It's our fault." Matthew snapped firmly as he slammed his fist down on the table which made the adults all look at him. Destiny continued quietly, "And no, Mom, he did not force me to sleep with him. We did this because we loved each other, and at the time, we didn't know if the surgery Matthew was going to need to walk again was going to work or kill him. And I also do not have any regrets. It's neither of your faults, neither of us turned out bad or anything, we just did something and now we're going to handle our situation."
"Calm down, Desi, the baby.' Matthew warned, seeing how worked up she was getting. He was pretty worked up too, already things looked to be going to a rocky start.
"We need to have a serious discussion about this, young man." Nora snapped as she and Beau and Clint got up to leave. Destiny's parents and Shawn also left, Destiny's mother starting on her before they were even out of earshot of Matthew and his family. "I have never liked that boy. And you disobeying me, being so stupid and throwing away your life? I'm so disappointed right now, Destiny.. You two will not be seeing each other anymore."
Nora said the same thing at the same time and the two teenagers gulped and looked at one another... Now how were they going to work around this? OR would their parents eventually come around?
Roxy grinned as she slid into her usual spot at her son Rex's dining table. Rex gave her a strange look and Roxy remarked casually, "So.. This pretty little thing came into the salon today to get her hair dyed, get ready for some dance over at Llanview High tomorrow night.. And your son's name might have come up a few times." as Rex and Gigi exchanged looks and all eyes at the table turned to Shane who continued to pick at his food and tune out the adults conversations, no real reason for him to throw himself into it, from where he s tood.
"What'd she say?" Gigi asked, concerned. Roxy laughed and then with her usual faraway look whenever she talked about matters of love and romance, she replied dreamily, "Said his cologne smelled yummy.. And that his eyes were like oceans and she got distracted around him. Also said she's avoiding him because she thinks he gets annoyed when she tries talkin to him or being friends with him."
Shane's ears perked and he started to tune into the conversation, wondering why Gabrielle would say all that out loud, to everybody else but not to him personally.. And why she seemed to be so damn good at avoiding him lately. She had been for almost a month or so now and he was starting to think that she'd keep it up forever and that he just might have to make the move first..
If, of course, he could get the courage to do that.
Echo spoke up from down the table and said with a softer smile, "She's scared to death of the male species, at least that's what she told her friends when they were riding her about not just making a move first. Didn't say why, just said she was."
"Wait.. She dyed her hair?" Shane asked, finally speaking up. Rex huffed and teasingly said to his son, "You hear all that and the first thing you ask is about her dying her hair?"
"Yeah, apparently she wanted to do it kinda like Marilyn Monroe's color, some highlights and stuff.. They kept jokin about her sewin a scarlet A on all her clothes or somethin.. not sure what they meant by it, but she seemed to get a kick outta sayin she was gonna do it. Said she was kinda reinventing herself or something? I don't know, kid, but I think she really likes ya." Roxy explained as Shane went over what his grandmothers said just now, and then realized that the scarlet A was in reference to The Scarlet Letter, which was p robably a dig at the rumors Jack Manning had going around about her, about things she'd done while living in Nevada.
They'd upset her earlier in the day, he knew that because he actually did try and go find her after seeing the whole blow up in the cafeteria. But Destiny and Danielle beat him to it so he stayed the hell out. Besides, she was avoiding him, maybe by now, she'd actually made herself not like him as much as she claimed to when they first met.
"Brody will have a heart attack." Rex chuckled as Gigi nodded in agreement and then said "I'm guessing she's getting bullied too?" as she shot her son a look thinking he'd know whether the girl was or not, so she could call Brody and give him a heads up so that he could step in for Gabrielle's sake be fore things g ot as bad and as quickly as they had with Shane's own bullying situation.
"Not so much bullied as Jack's got all kinds of stuff going around school about her, stuff he somehow found out she did at her old school or while she lived in Nevada. She was pretty upset earlier." as Gigi asked "And you didn't try and talk to her? She's your friend, I mean I thought she was."
"She's been avoiding me for a while now, Mom.. It's kinda my own fault though so don't get all mad at her. I kept pushing her out and she finally just got out." Shane stated firmly, his voice taking on an almost protective tone as he spoke about the situation between himself and Gabrielle.
He hated it, because now that she was leaving him alone, he realized just how much that was exactly what he didn't want her to do.. And just how much he liked her, no matter how crazy she drove him sometimes.
"Oh..."
"Yeah... It's my fault. And she probably doesn't even like me a little anymore."
"That is so not what she said in my stylist chair today, Shane." Roxy said as Echo nodded and then said "She's only avoiding you to prove she's not a doormat. And to make things less awkward on you if you actually don't like her.. Why not show up at that dance tomorrow night?"
"Because, Jack Manning will be there. And he'll ruin it somehow. Any courage I might get together to talk to her and confront her about stuff will be shot down the drain, grandma."
"You don't know until you try." Gigi stated as Rex nodded and said quietly, "I had the same problem with your mom in high school actually.. And believe it or not, I was getting my ass kicked every day at the time, guys were giving me hell about the same things they do to you.. Those other guys do that because they're jealous of you."
"There is literally nothing to be jealous of.. At all." Shane insisted as he started to eat again quietly and then shortly after, excused himself and went up to his room. He flopped across his bed as he thought about the personal stuff Gabrielle said in his grandma Roxy's salon that day, and why she couldn't just put it into words and tell him herself.. He knew why, that made this harder for him because he wanted to make a move so badly he could taste it... He just didn't have the required courage, skills with girls or creative ideas as to how to make it.
He stood and walked out of his room, down into the den where naturally, the adults were still discussing what Roxy said during dinner amongst themselves. "Fine, I'll go.. But I kinda don't know how to dance? Or have anything that looks fifties to wear?"
"Leave the clothes to your grandmother and me.."
Rex smirked as he got an idea and then said "You said you don't know how to dance?.. She takes dance classes if I remember what Brody was telling me correctly.. There's your loophole.. Go over there and ask her if she'll show you how to dance.. It's not my smoothest but it's short notice and i t'll have to work."
"Or she'll slam the door in my face." Shane muttered to himself as he debated on his father's idea.. Should he do it?
"Is she home now?"
"You're the one who has her number.." Rex stated as Shane nodded and then said "I'm gonna try.. But i t'll probably blow up in my face."
He walked out the door and started to walk to Gabrielle's house, just a block away..
"That is not a top, princess.. When I sent you to get more school clothes earlier, I meant clothing.. Not this.." Brody insisted, concerned about what might have gotten into his fifteen year old. She sat at a sewing machine in her room, it seemed as if she were tuning him out. The machine's hum stopped and she looked up and said quietly, "Do you trust me? I mean even a little?"
"I do, princess, but those clothes are not.. I just don't understand why you want to dress like that." Brody gestured to the bed full of clothing and heels, and then her hair as he added, "Or why there was something so wrong with your natural hair color that you just had to change it. I love you just the way you are, princess. And no matter what happens, I always will. So yes, I trust you.. What does that have to do with this new look?"
Gabrielle bit her lower lip as Danielle's insisting that she open up to her father came back. She'd promised both Danielle and Destiny that she'd stop thinking everyone she cared about would sooner or later abandon her.. And taht she'd open up to her dad about everything and actually let him be her dad, let him love her like he kept trying to.
"Because, daddy, there are things going around school about me.. Things that aren't totally true, but they aren't entirely false either.. And instead of crying and running to you to fix this, I thought I'd handle it myself.. Give those fucking fucks at Llanview something to talk about.. Because I'm not used to having someone who actually loves me and wants to stick around to fight my battles for me. Okay? I told you this because I trust you to let me handle this on my own.. I promise, daddy.. if I can't or it gets too far out of hand I'll let you do something about it. I want to prove a point, so this" she gestured to the clothing, the scarlet felt letter A's she was currently sewing on nearly all her clothing and stuff before continuing, "is me proving that point."
The way she called him daddy tugged at his heart and he smiled brightly then hugged her. This time, when she returned the hug, she didn't do it stiffly, or as if she had to force herself to, she hugged him almost so tightly he couldn't breathe.. Maybe whatever happened to her today was the break his former girlfriend and current best friend Jessica kept promising him would come.
Maybe they really were going to be okay, and she'd finally allow herself to trust him. She looked up at him and then laughing a little asked quietly, "Seriously, daddy.. You're going to cry on me? Now? Marines don't.."
"They do when their daughters call them daddy and hug them like they actually want to hug their dads for the first time ever, okay? Just shhh and let me have my moment." Brody said as he ruffled her newly dyed and trimmed (just bangs, he probably really would've cried if all that long wavy hair was gone when she'd come back) hair and looked down at her.
"So.. Does this mean things are gonna be different now?"
"I'm gonna try, okay? But first.. I kinda need to tell you some stuff. It's bad and scary and personal.. And I don't want you to think any different of me, so I'm kinda scared.." Gabrielle admitted quietly as she walked to the door of her room and pushed it shut, started to tell him every single thing that ever happened to her while she was living with her mother or in a group home or wherever she happened to be living.
When she finished, she finally let go of all the crying she'd wanted to do but never allowed herself to do and when she finished crying, Brody said quietly, "I already knew about all of it.. And I wanted to ask you about it a thousand times by now but I kept waiting on you to trust me enough on your own to tell me.."
"You knew?"
"Mhmm. And if I ever see your mother again, that will be the one and only time I actually lay hands on a woman.. What she did to you was horrible. I just wish she'd told me about you instead of taking off, keeping you hidden."
They sat silently a few moments and finally he asked, "So.. You're taking the Scarlet Letter approach, huh?"
"Mhmm.. I shouldn't have to do this long. Once they see that the rumors and their idiot remarks don't bug me, I won't wear the stuff anymore. It worked at my old school, but it took me a long time to finally see that the only reason they kept it up was because I showed that it bothered me.. When I started doing this, they s topped talking about me so much."
"It's not a bad idea.. But I still do not like the heels or the clothes and I wish you'd have left your hair alone.." Brody admitted as Gabrielle teased him, "Good lord, daddy.. Don't be such a baby. I'm standing up for myself. I'm not gonna let these fuc-err f udging, sir I meant f udging, morons intimidate me."
"And that makes me proud of you.." Brody said as he hugged her again. The sudden ringing of their front doorbell had him raising a brow and Gabrielle shrugging and biting her lower lip. She kept a poker face just in case it were Destiny needing her, but to her shock, Shane was the person who stepped through the door of her room a few minutes after her dad went to the front door and let him in.
"What on Earth are you doing?" Shane asked as he looked at the sewing machine, her dyed hair, the clothing and heels all over her bed. She looked up at him and shrugged warily. "Why's it matter?"
"Because it does, okay? You're my friend and.. I saw how upset you got earlier when Jack said all that stuff about you. I wanted to come over and see if you were okay.. And I wanted to ask you for something.."
She eyed him, raised brow as she nodded to a chair in front of her overfilled with perfume and makeup vanity table. "So talk."
"I kinda wanna learn how to dance? I was thinking about going to the Homecoming thing tomorrow and there's this girl I want to ask to dance with me and.. Yeah, two left feet, okay, damn?"
"So you want me.. To teach you how to dance.. So you can ask some other girl how to dance? Have I got this straight so far?"
He shrugged mysteriously and then said "Mostly, yeah."
She mulled it over and said quietly, "Fine.. I'll do it." as she tried to hide the fact that him liking someone else actually did hurt her and more than she'd thought it wo uld.. Who was this other girl? And what did she have that Gabrielle didn't?
Shane kicked himself mentally. He could just sort of sense that she was thinking the entirely wrong thing, but if he were going to surprise her, he very well couldn't tell her he was going to turn and ask her to dance with him tomorrow night, right?
Because that's not how his dad would do it.. And his dad, of course, had ten times the experience with girls that he did. And he trusted his dad's advice on this.
She finished sewing something on what looked like a corset that one normally saw in the pages of one of his mom's mail order Victorias Secret catalogs and toseed it onto the bed as she stood and said "So.. You better not break my toes, okay? I intend on dancing my vintage little ass off tomorrow night. With anyone and everyone who asks." she said next as she eyed him. Why'd he look jealous when she said that?
And why did she get the definite feeling that Shane was up to something right now? If he were she'd have to say she'd be shocked because she really didn't think he had a sneaky bone in his body. OR a mean one.
She flipped through the radio and settled on an oldies station as she smirked and said "Try and keep up, Morasco." and started walking him through how to slow dance with a girl first... He caught on quickly, and as a slower song started to play, he pulled her a little closer.
She didn't want to, but she imagined, just for now, that he wasn't learning this, with her, just to impress some other girl, a girl that she didn't even know yet but already hated because that girl had the one thing she wanted more than anything currently.
Shane's hands rested on her lower back and his nose grazed her hair. She had her head nuzzled against his chest and he asked her casually over the music, "Why dye your hair?"
"You'll see, okay.. It's just something I gotta do.. I gotta make a stand or things will be as bad as they were in Nevada, if not worse. And I'm not losing all this." Gabrielle stated firmly, looking up at him, biting her lower lip as she sighed and looked down again quickly.
"I think you're all set." she said quietly, her voice almost hurt. He looked at her as she backed away and said "Besides, it's late.. And I just kinda want to finish what I was doing and go to bed. I need sleep... Tomorrow's kinda a big day for me."
He studied her intently, confused.. For a few moments there, they'd had this really, really strong connection.. He'd been holding her, she'd been letting him hold her.. What happened?
Then he realized that everything his grandmother said was one hundred percent true and this was Gabrielle, letting him go so she didn't make things awkward for him.. Because naturally, she didn't know that he now realized how he felt about her..
But hopefully, tomorrow night..
He nodded and cleared his throat then said quietly, "See you tomorrow then?"
She gave him a thumbs up as she slid into the chair in front of the little sewing machine and got back to work. He walked out and back home, convinced that even if Jack made tomorrow night a living hell, he was going to that dance..
Because he was going to confront her about her whole plan to avoid him.. And he was going to prove to her that he didn't actually feel quite the way she thought he did, about her. That he felt something entirely different, even if it scared the living hell out of him to have to admit it.
Because if tonight were anythign to go by, that was his only viable option.. If not, she'd just give up and let him go. Which he didn't want and he knew that now, of course.
