"Mr. Foreman, did you hear me?" the nurse repeated, failing once again to elicit an answer. The young man in front of her sat frozen in the uncomfortable plastic chair, grasping desperately to the woman's hand next to him. "We have the test results. Donna is waiting for you in her room."

"Let me try," Kitty offered apologetically to the nurse. Turning to her son, she searched his eyes for some kind of signal that he could handle this alone. She had always shared a special relationship with Eric, present for all the most crucial moments of his. However, this time she knew that he would have to go it alone. For the first time, she felt like she really had to let go. "Eric, Donna needs you now. You need to go in there and be the man that I raised you to be."

His mother's words hit him immediately, breaking through the false façade he had built around himself in a matter of seconds. She was right, it was time for him to step up. Slipping his hand from Kitty's, he rubbed his palms over his face one final time in a minor effort to collect his thoughts. Then, with a deep breath, he stood up and wordlessly followed the nurse down the long hallway. The uniformed woman pointed toward the last door on the left before leaving him to return to her post behind the sliding glass window.

As he rested his hand on the cool chrome doorknob, an image of Jackie flashed through his mind. He could hear her voice in his mind, urging him to find out the answers that they both needed. The answer had the power to change both their lives, but he had to find out now. He was ready to move forward with Jackie by his side regardless of what the answer was. The only thing he had to do now was walk through that door.

"Sorry for making you wait," he declared as he slipped into the examination room. Donna sat anxiously on the table, her long legs barely covered by the thin paper gown. The doctor, a studious looking older man with a salt and pepper beard, sat on a stool, scanning a stack of charts. Eric took the only chair in the room, an exact replica of the hard plastic furniture in the waiting room. "Well?"

Donna shot him a pointed look. "What I think Eric means, Dr. Jackson, is that we are very curious to find out what the results of the test are?"

The doctor nodded earnestly before flipping through the papers on the clipboard. Running his finger along the white page, he finally seemed to find what he was looking for. "Oh, yes, here it is," he announced. "Well, I am not sure what results you were wanting, Ms. Pinciotti, but it appears that you should expect a child seven months from now."

"Seven months?" Donna sputtered. "You mean I'm…"

"You mean she's…" Eric stuttered.

"Pregnant," Dr. Jackson confirmed. "Donna is approximately eight weeks along, making her due in mid-April. There are a lot of things to consider here, and I'm sure that you two would like to take some time to discuss the options. I will leave you with some pamphlets on your choices, which do include abortion and adoption. I encourage you to make up your minds fairly soon as certain options do become limited as time goes on. In the mean time, Donna, I would encourage you to make an appointment with an obstetrician next week."

Donna nodded silently, still reeling from the unexpected news. While she knew that there was a slight chance that she was pregnant, a significant part of her had believed that the results would come back negative. "We'll decide what we are going to do soon," she replied. "Can I have a few minutes alone to change?"

"Sure, just see the nurse on your wait out," the doctor smiled. "And if this is what you want, congratulations to you both. Have a nice day."

Eric scowled at the doctor's retreating back as he left the two of them alone. "I'll just let you get dressed. My mom is out in the waiting room. I didn't know she was going. I hadn't told her anything."

"I don't want to tell her yet," Donna implored. "My dad should really hear it first. We can tell them at the same time if you want. I just don't want her to know before him. It'd just add fuel to the fire."

"I understand," Eric retorted. "I have to tell Jackie though. I know that it's not going to be easy for you, but I am going to stay with her. No matter what your decision is, Donna, I want to be clear about that. I will be the best father I can to our child, but we're not going to be together."

"Can we just talk about this later?" she begged, struggling to hold in the tears threatening to roll down her face. "I just need a little time to collect myself. I'm going to have to make a lot of choices and answer a lot of questions. I don't know how I'm going to do this."

"How we're going to do this," Eric corrected her. "Just because we're not going to be together doesn't mean you are in this alone. I will be there to help you no matter what you decide."

"And what about what you decide, Eric? This is your baby, too. What do you want?"

"I could never ask you to keep this baby if it wasn't what you wanted," he said. "But I can't imagine having my child grow up without knowing me. You know how I feel about abortion, but if it's what you decide, I will find a way to support you."

"Are you saying that you want this baby?"

Eric nodded solemnly. "If it was just up to me, that'd be the only choice I could make."

Donna crossed her hands over her stomach protectively. "Let's just talk about this later," she said again. "I'm going to get changed. I'll meet you out there." Eric nodded again, squeezing her shoulder in a sign of silent support on his way past. Without looking back, he left her alone in the tiny examination room. When she was finally alone, she let the tears come. Salty droplets rolling down her pale cheeks, she let all the emotions overwhelm her body. She was pregnant. "How did I get myself into this?"

The trip down the hall was much shorter than the long journey to the room had been for Eric. A thousand thoughts racing through his mind, he was dreading what he was about to tell his mother. As he watched her through the window in the door, he could see her aimlessly flipping through a medical journal. She would be devastated that she couldn't know first, know right away. Still, this was Donna's only request to him so far, and he couldn't deny her this for anyone, not even his mother.

"Well?" Kitty asked, standing up as he entered back into the room. She tried to find any signal of an answer in her son's face, but she found none. His gaze was completely blank, a rarity for his usually expressive eyes. "Eric, what did the doctor say?"

"Donna wants to wait until she can tell her father. She said that we can tell you all at the same time," he explained. "I'm not sure if that's the best thing for Dad. I don't want to put any stress on his heart. I'll let you make the call there, but I can't tell you anything until Bob knows, too."

"Oh," she replied, trying to keep the disappointment out of her tone. "You're probably right about your father. I'll come with you two when she tells Bob. I'll sit down and explain everything to your father. It's not going to be easy, but I think it'll be best coming from me."

Eric nodded in agreement, thankful that his mother was willing to take the hit for the greater good of his father's health. He was going to need his parents in the months to come, and putting a strain on Red's heart would only hinder the entire Foreman family. "Mom, I'm sorry," he apologized. "I want to tell you."

Kitty shook her head before wrapping her son in a hug. "It doesn't matter, Eric," she promised him. "Just like it doesn't matter what the results were. I am going to support and love you either way. Your father will, too."

For a moment, Eric let himself pretend that he was still a kid and that his parents could somehow make everything better for him. "Thanks," he whispered into her ear, hugging her tightly. "For everything, Mom, thank you."

"Excuse me," Donna said softly behind them. "Mrs. Foreman, I'm sorry that you had to come down here for nothing. I hope you'll understand why I asked Eric to wait."

"Of course, honey," Kitty retorted, patting Donna on the arm. "Your father is your family, he should be there. And I didn't come down here for nothing, I came down here for me son. Sweetie, I came down here for both of you."

The redhead smiled warmly in response. "Thank you."

Kitty nodded before glancing down at her watch. "Well, I need to get back to the hospital. I guess I will see you both tonight at home," she said. "Eric, I'll be home around dinner, just so you know." Then, with a quick hug to both, she was out the door and they were once again alone.

"So…" Eric drawled nervously. "Do you want to tell them tonight?"

"Might as well," Donna shrugged, stuffing the brochures into her purse.

"What are we telling them?"

"That we're having a baby."

"You want to keep it?"

"You were right about what you said in there. I could never…"

"I know," he assured her, thankful that she was incapable of making the choice. While Eric believed in a woman's right to choose, he knew that it was a choice he could never make. He didn't believe in abortion personally but knew that it should never be his right to take that option away from someone else. "So, tonight?"

"Yeah," she answered, her voice small and hollow. "Are you going to tell Jackie now?"

Eric nodded slowly, realizing for the first time exactly what he was going to have to tell his girlfriend. "I have to, Donna," he remarked. "She has to know. I'll swear her to secrecy until we can tell everyone else, but she's apart of this. I need her to know."

As much as Donna didn't want her former best friend to know that she was pregnant, she knew that fighting with Eric would be pointless. He was going to tell Jackie whether she liked it or not. "Fine," she relented. "Just call me whenever you get home so we can decide on a time. I'll take care of my dad."

"My mom is going to tell Red."

Donna laughed humorlessly. "That's probably a good idea. I don't think that having another heart attack would be good for anyone right now," she pointed out. "So, I guess I'll see you later."

"Yeah, I'll see you later," he replied, watching as she buttoned her coat and slung her purse over her shoulder. Just as she was about to walk outside, Eric lunged forward and grabbed her hand. Pulling her back into the office, he stood silently and looked at her. This was the mother of his child. He was going to be a father. They were going to have a baby. As small tears formed in the corners of his eyes, he wrapped his arms around her. "Congratulations, Donna, you're going to be one hell of a mother."