"Maya!"

Riley frantically patted her best friend's cheek as a crowd of shoppers and a couple of store employees started to form around them. An older woman stood next to them with a concerned look on her face.

"What happened, sweetie?" she asked Riley.

"My best friend fainted! And she's thirteen weeks pregnant pregnant."

By this time, Maya was regaining consciousness and Lucas and Farkle had arrived. Maya groaned quietly as the boys pushed through the crowd.

Farkle immediately dropped to his knees next to Riley and Maya. "Maya, are you okay?" he demanded.

"I'm fine..."

"She's probably dehydrated," the woman spoke. "I'm a nurse. She needs something to drink. Juice would be best."

Farkle and Riley stayed with Maya while Lucas went to the nearest restaurant and bought some orange juice. He quickly brought it back and Maya took it, drinking it slowly.

"I think it's time to go home," Riley suggested gently.

"Seriously, guys, I'm okay," she insisted as she sat upright.

"Maya, you just fainted and you're pregnant! You need to go home and rest," Riley argued.

The woman who had helped them chose that moment to interrupt. "Since she's pregnant, she may want to go to the hospital, just in case."

Farkle helped Maya to her feet and Riley stood up with them.

"Maya, please let us take you to the hospital," she urged. "I'll call Shawn and tell him what's going on."

"Riles-"

"Please?" Farkle begged.

Maya couldn't say no to the two of them, and they knew it. She didn't say anything and shook her head stubbornly.

"Maya, you can never be too careful," Lucas spoke. "You can never be too careful when you're pregnant."

"You serve as an excellent voice of reason, Dr. Howdy," Maya scoffed. "Fine. I'll go to the stupid hospital, but after that I'm going home."

"Okay." Riley picked up the bags Maya had dropped and Farkle held onto Maya's arm. Riley called Shawn to let him know what had happened and where they would be going before they took Maya to the hospital.

It was only a few minutes before the receptionist called Maya to an exam room. Her friends protectively accompanied her. Maya answered several questions that the nurse asked her about her health and the incident.

Once Maya had given enough information, the nurse did an ultrasound, which assured Maya that the baby was unharmed. She knew she was supposed to be thankful, but she was annoyed instead, because it meant she had gone to the hospital to be told what she already knew.

When they returned to the waiting room, Shawn was waiting for Maya and looked relieved when she walked out of the exam room.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine. Just got a little dehydrated. I'm fine and the baby is fine. I just want to go home right now."

"Okay. Come on." After Maya said good bye to her friends, Shawn took her home.


After the incident at the mall, Maya began taking better care of herself so that her baby would be born healthy.

Her next appointment with the OB/GYN took place when she was fourteen weeks along. The appointment proved that she was doing fine and the baby was developing at a healthy rate, with no sign of any developmental problems.

Other than feeling tired more often and being moody, Maya didn't experience further difficulties with her pregnancy and she made sure that she always kept herself hydrated with nutritious drinks and foods, while limiting junk food.

By her fifteenth week, Maya was just beginning to show through her shirts. She wore looser tops and layered to make the still fairly small baby bump look smaller, but she knew it wouldn't be long before everyone at school knew.

When she was sixteen weeks along, she and Farkle went for an appointment to see if their baby's sex could be determined, but the baby was not in the correct position and they were unable to tell. They arranged another appointment for her nineteenth week to see if they would be able to determine it at that time.

Nobody outside of her close friend circle said anything until her eighteenth week. Maya was putting books in her locker when there was a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see Missy Bradford and scowled.

"Hi, Mia."

"Hey, bulldozer. It's Maya."

Missy gave Maya a smile that was so fake that it made Maya's eyes burn. "So, I hear you're having a baby!"

"You hear things. So?"

"Do you really think that's smart? I mean, you're so young and all. I know I wouldn't want to have a baby at fifteen. But... of course we're different, right?"

Maya smiled. "I still loathe you," she responded in a sugary sweet voice. Ever since Missy had tried to stop Riley from dating Lucas, she had despised the popular girl with a strong passion.

"So do you even know who your baby's father is? If you didn't know... I can't imagine how humiliating that would be! Wait... isn't the baby daddy that Minkus kid that Lucas is friends with?"

"Yes."

"Wow."

Maya frowned. "Wow? What's that supposed to mean?" Normally she couldn't have cared less what Missy thought, but to Maya's annoyance, her elevated hormones made her care about things she didn't want to care about.

"It's just... he's so weird. He's not popular or tall or strong... he's just a nerd. But I guess that's all you ever had a chance for, right?"

Maya scowled. "He's a great guy. Not that you would know, of course, since you hang out with losers. He is a nerd and a weirdo, but he isn't ashamed of it and only I'm allowed to call him that. If you ever talk about him like that again, I will end you."

"Whatever." Missy started to walk away. "Slut."

Maya's blood boiled and she wanted to attack Missy, but she knew that she had to keep her temper in control and that a physical fight would be dangerous for the baby, so she settled for slamming her locker as Missy disappeared around the corner.


A week later, Maya and Farkle went to the next appointment to see if the baby would be in the right position to determine the sex. After a fifteen minute wait in the waiting room, the receptionist called them back and they went to Dr. Wheeler's exam room.

"Hey, guys. Ready to see if we can tell if that little one's a boy or girl?"

"Yep." Maya lay on the table and Farkle stood next to her as Becky turned on the ultrasound monitor and smeared the gel on Maya's stomach. She placed the wand against Maya's stomach and moved it around until the blurry image became clear enough for them to see the shape of their baby.

"The baby's not kicking yet. Is that a problem?"

"It shouldn't be, because your baby's healthy so far. Some babies take longer to start moving around, and some are just less active. Most of them don't start kicking until at least sixteen weeks, and you're at nineteen, so give it some time."

"Oh. Okay."

"Let's see... right now, your baby's about six inches long. He or she is going to grow faster from here on, and so will you. Everything looks good... ah. Here we are."

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Maya and Farkle both stared at the screen, but neither of them could tell.

"It looks like you're having a..."