Barbara was down in the kitchen making for dinner when Richard walked into the house. He had been working on an old yellow Ducati motorcycle that a family friend had given him. His plan was to give it to his son when he graduated high school. "I'm in the kitchen, Richie!" she shouted when she heard the front door open and close. "Everything okay out there?"
Walking into the kitchen, Richard smiled and gave his wife a little kiss on the lips. "Yes, everything is fine, but it looks like I'll have to be ordering some more parts. It's got more issues. Where's the kids?"
Barbara giggled. "Where do you think they are, honey? They're teenagers. All they do is sleep. But Tim said they'd be down in a little bit. Harry is in the living room watching some cartoons."
"True, and I take it Lauren is staying the night here?"
"Yes, I think she's staying here the entire weekend, but I'm not sure."
"Oh," Richard said a little surprised. "What's for dinner?" he asked said hanging his keys up on the key-hook.
"Something simple. I'm just warming up some leftover spaghetti from last night. I got garlic bread ready to go in the oven."
"Yum! I'm going to go change real quick then I'll be down to help you, okay honey."
"Okay Richie." With that Richard went upstairs to change.
Meanwhile, upstairs, Lauren lay in bed sleeping peacefully. Speed was awake. He was staring down at the sonogram pictures. The little peanut sized dot in the photo was his child. He and Lauren had made this little baby boy or girl. Speed smiled to himself. He never thought of himself as being a dad, and certainly hadn't thought about marriage. But now he was having a baby with the girl he loved, and the thought of marriage popped into his head. "Maybe I should ask her to marry me. It'd be the right thing to do now, right?" Speed asked himself. "I can't afford a ring. Every girl deserves an engagement ring, right?"
Hearing Lauren stir, Speed looked down at her. He smiled and she smiled back. "Hey babe, how are you feeling?" Speed asked running his hand over her stomach.
"I feel pretty good. The nap helped me a lot. Now I'm hungry," Lauren said.
Speed looked at the digital clock on his nightstand and said, "Well then let's go get some food. My mom's home, and she's probably wondering where we are. I told her we'd be down in like five minutes, twenty-five minutes ago."
"Then we better get down there." Lauren planted a quick kiss on the corner of Speed's mouth before getting up off the bed. Speed got up and followed Lauren downstairs.
Barbara was sitting on the sofa when Speed and Lauren made it downstairs. "Well good evening sunshines. Have a nice nap?" she asked cheerfully. Harry was sitting next to her.
"Yeah, it was good, Mrs. Speedle. Much needed too," Lauren said with a smile. "Do you need any help with dinner?"
Barbara smiled back. "No sweetheart, it's just about ready. I'm just waiting for the garlic bread."
"Spaghetti and garlic bread. Yum!" Speed said running his stomach.
"Salad too, Timothy. You need your greens and vegetables."
"You staying here, Wauren?" Harry's little boy voice piped up.
Lauren looked down at Harry and said with a smile, "Yes! The whole entire weekend."
"YAY!" he shouted.
"What's going on down here?" Richard asked walking into the living room in some more comfortable clothes.
"Wauren staying, daddy!"
"Hi honey," Richard said to Lauren.
"Hi, Mr. Speedle."
The kitchen timer went off signaling that dinner was ready, and so was the garlic bread. Everyone filed into the kitchen and took their seats. Lauren sat next to Speed; Barbara helped Harry into his chair then sat down next to Richard.
Dinner was winding down when Lauren suddenly started to feel nauseous again. She put her fork down, and closed her eyes willing the horrible feeling to go away. It helped a little bit, but she soon had to excuse herself.
Speed looked at his mother and frowned. He didn't know what to do. There was nothing he could do. "Go to her Timothy. I'll get her some crackers and warm up some chicken noodle soup, if she wants any," Barbara said getting up from her chair.
Richard had a look of confusion on his face. He was still in the dark about everything. "What's going on?" he asked.
"Honey, we'll discuss it in a minute. Harry, are you done?" Her youngest son nodded his head yes.
"Richie, could you take Harry upstairs, and give him his bath and get him ready for bed?" Richard did as he was told and took his youngest son upstairs.
Speed and Lauren were already in the living room when Barbara and Richard walked in and hour later; Harry was in bed. "Lauren, honey how are you feeling? I brought you some crackers and some water. I can make some chicken noodle soup if you want," Barbara said handing Lauren the bag of crackers and bottle of water.
Lauren sat up and leaned against Speed. "No thanks, Mrs. Speedle. I think I'll just take the crackers."
When everyone was comfortable Richard asked, "So what's going on? Why couldn't we talk about it earlier? Are you okay?" Richard asked looking straight at Lauren.
Lauren suddenly felt herself become nervous. "I'm fine, Mr. Speedle. I'm not sick or anything," she said then turned to Speed for some help. She didn't know how to tell Richard about the baby.
Speed cleared his throat and said, "Um, well… I guess there isn't any easy way to say this, but Lauren… Lauren is pregnant. We're going to have a baby, dad."
Richard's eyes went wide. He was shocked. He looked at his wife, who didn't look shocked at all. "Come again?" he said.
Lauren bit her bottom lip, and repeated what Speed had said. "I'm pregnant, Mr. Speedle. Tim and I are going to have a baby." Richard was about to speak, but Lauren stopped him. "Before you say anything, Mr. Speedle, I just wanted to say that Speed and I definitely didn't plan this. We never meant for this to happen. Please don't yell or tell us we're mistakes. We really didn't mean for this to happen. We used protection," she said feeling tears fill the corner of her eyes.
Barbara placed a calming hand on her husband's back. She knew he was upset and disappointed, but the two made a promise: if their child ended up pregnant at a young age they would support him or her. In this case, they would support him. There was a lot Speed didn't know about his parents, but right now wasn't the time to tell him or Lauren. Right now they needed love and support.
"No, sweetheart. I don't think you kids are mistakes. I would never think that of you two." He got up and went and sat down next to his son. He looked and Speed and Lauren and said, "I'm not going to lie and tell you I'm not upset and disappointed because I am, but I want you to know your mother and I will be here for you both every step of the way. Lauren you can come and stay here as long as you want. As far as I'm concerned you're like family to me and my wife." Richard opened his arms to hug Speed. "Everything will be okay, son. I promise."
Lauren got up from her seat and gave Richard a hug. "Thank you so much, Mr. Speedle. You have no idea how much this means to me," Lauren said through her tears. "I just wish my dad and sister were like you."
Richard kissed the top of her forehead and said, "Like I told Tim, everything will work out. He just needs some time, and I meant it when I said you could stay here as long as you want."
"Thank you," was all that Lauren could get out.