Author's Note: I want Keith to be loving towards Natalie, but he just has so much turmoil that I didn't even know I would have to write until he really took it upon himself to show me. (; His character was being co-operative, and I hope that this chapter is good- it pretty much wrote itself.

Enjoy and please review!

Keith held Natalie's hand firmly as they walked the halls. She gained strength from him that way, and was able to avoid everyone's gazes. You could tell by now that she was pregnant, of-course; she was five and a half months along now. Once they got to their lockers, he took her book-bag for her as she gathered her books. After a few moments, she mumbled something about 'being right back', and darted off in the direction of the girl's bathroom.

Ooo

Keith waited for Natalie for over ten minutes, and eventually he began to get worried. Waiting for the only other girl he knew was in there to leave, he glanced around him once she did, and took a deep breath before walking in.

"I'm going to have to kill myself." He mumbled, hoping no one had seen him.

She was in the last stall, hunched over the toilet like he had expected. He knelt beside her carefully and rested a hand on her back. He noticed the tears running down her cheeks as they landed on her arm.

"It's okay," he said softly. "I promise, it's okay."

Ooo

Natalie stumbled through all of her classes that day, and waited for Chemistry anxiously. She was incredibly uncomfortable, and needed to be with Keith. She knew if she could just make it to her only class with him, she would be able to face the rest of the day.

Ooo

Keith rested his hand against his palm as he sketched in his notebook with his free-hand, paying no attention to his teacher or the notes he should be taking. He wondered what Natalie was doing right now, and how she felt. He figured that if she had done this well without him being there 24/7 for the past 5 months, then she would be able to handle a day at school, but he still couldn't shake the worry he had for her. Keith never cared about his grades, really, (not that he had to with his naturally intelligent mind), but he could tell that his focus was resting on nothing but her- and it bothered him. Keith was never one for attachment, and that's what he was starting to feel prominently. Lazily, he flipped to the next page of his book when he saw everyone else doing it, and then resumed his pointless doodling. He wished there was a way for him to make her feel better, but he wasn't sure she was up for any late night escapades, or anything else that involved…Well, moving. Gripping his pencil tighter, he shaded the skull he had just drawn around the edges.

"This is so hopeless." He said under his breath, getting up and exiting the classroom with no words to the teacher.

Keith walked down the halls in a numb sort of trance. He had to get away and think. Once he got in his truck, he decided the best destination to do that was at their spot, on the cliff. He drove quickly, ignoring the speed limits as always. Once he came to a rest on the cliff, though, he didn't step out of the truck. Instead, he gripped his steering wheel tightly.

How was he supposed to get both of them through this?

His knuckles were white, now, and his palms ached with the squeezing pain. Releasing slowly, he rested his hands behind his head and stretched against the back of his seat. He yawned. Keith hadn't gotten much sleep lately; he laid up many nights thinking of what his baby was going to be like, and what Natalie was doing. It scared Keith. Being so close to somebody, scared him. For a split second, he let himself wonder if it was right of them to keep the baby. Maybe they could put their selfishness aside and give the baby to someone who could take care of it. Was a mother who was going away to University, (hopefully), and a father who was undergoing chemo treatment, good parents for a newborn? Keith highly doubted it. Weren't you supposed to have money for these things? A job? A future?

Keith had none of the above.

The only thoughts that gave him comfort lately, were the ones in which he remembered that Natalie would always make sure his child knew about him, and that he would always live on in his child. But on particularly negative days, even those comforting thoughts provided no comfort for Keith. He wanted to be the one to teach his child how to drive, how to Bowl, how to be so sarcastic that it comes off funny. Keith's thoughts settled then on the more normal ones he usually had: the ones of Natalie. He wondered what she was doing right now. Was it wrong of him to have left school like that? Was it wrong of him to be so self-centered? He was sure, that with a baby on the way, the self-centered parts of him would have to go, but he held on to them yet. Perhaps, Keith could get away with it…Maybe, if he tried hard enough, Natalie would back off when she realized that he only focused on himself, all the time.

But no, that wasn't what he wanted, and even if it was, that wasn't what she would do. He felt so lost, and helpless. All of his life had been one big blow after another, and he never seemed to be able to catch a break. He felt like everyday he faded more, and more. Keith wandered if Natalie and his child could ever go on without him. What had he done?

Leaning his head on the steering wheel, Keith turned the air down then, and finally let himself cry.