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Unplanned Life

"This is a joke right?" Mary asked staring at Taylor, sure she had misheard her but the look of fear on her face and the tears in her eyes told her she hadn't.

"No, why would I joke about this?"

"You're not even 16 yet…" Mary stated. "This cannot be happening…"

"I will be 16 soon…"

"Oh like that makes it okay then!"

"You know what? I shouldn't have said anything…" Taylor glared at her. "Forget about it…"

"Are you kidding me?" Mary stopped her from walking away. "Taylor, you cannot forget about this…Do you realizing how serious this is?"

"Of course I do…I'm not some stupid kid!"

Mary sighed and ran a hand down her face. "Look, I'm sorry for freaking out but this is not going to go away…Does your Mom know?"

"No! You and can't tell her!"

"Taylor…"

"Promise me!" Taylor demanded.

"You don't think she's going to suspect something when you start…" Mary searched for the right word and gestured to Taylor's stomach. "Expanding…or whatever…"

"She'll kill me…"

"Look, Taylor…" Mary guided her over to the wall so they could sit back down again. "What do you want from me? Why did you tell me?"

"I don't know…" She looked down at her hands. "I haven't told anyone yet…"

"You asked about Marsh….about your Dad." Mary had to correct herself again. "Is this why you wanted to find him?"

She looked up and shook her head. "I've wanted to find him for a long time…Since my Grandma started telling me about him."

"But why now?" Mary prompted gently but the teenager fell silent again. "Taylor, you wanted to talk to someone…so talk."

"I didn't know what the best way to get in touch with him was…Like, he's not some guy who just ran out on me…he didn't know about me and with everything that happened with Emily…" She trailed off. "I don't know, I thought he might understand and want to help me…I guess, I just wanted to find him sooner rather than later."

"He will want to help." Mary assured her. "But he isn't going to be able to fix this for you…You're going to have to talk to your Mom and she is probably going to be upset but only because she wants the best of you."

"So, what do I do?" She whispered.

Mary sighed. "What do you want to do? Do you want to keep the baby or…?"

"I don't know…How do I even decide something like that?"

"Beats me." Mary let out a small laugh and then nodded her head back towards the house. "But that's why you need to talk to her…You need to suck it up and deal with it."

"And what about my Dad?"

"I think it's best if you tell him yourself…I can be there or not be there, that's up to you." Mary advised. "But you need to be honest with him…"

"Mary?" Marshall called as he stepped out into the garden.

"Over here." She answered, after reaching out to squeeze Taylor's hand in support.

"Hey…" He looked between the two of the curiously. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, sure…" Mary gave him a smile. "We're just talking…"

"Oh no…What did she tell you?" He looked at Taylor.

She laughed. "Nothing bad…"

"Yeah, right." He said in disbelief.

"It was girl talk." Mary told him and stood up. "Is that dessert ready?"

"Yeah, that's why I came looking for you…" He replied. "And since when do you do girl talk? You're not a girl."

Mary rolled her eyes and looked towards Taylor, who was watching them with a smile on her face. "And everyone thinks I'm the mean one and he's the nice one."

"Hey, no trying to turn my daughter against me." Marshall told her.

Mary couldn't help but smile slightly, seeing the proud look on her partner face when he said the word 'daughter.'

"Why don't we go get that dessert?" Mary suggested softly.

"Yeah…" Taylor agreed. "Come on….Dad."

Marshall's grin somehow got wider and he put an arm around Taylor shoulder before walking back towards the house.

Mary couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealously when she saw Taylor relax into Marshall's embrace. She knew that no matter what she decided to do about the baby, Marshall would be there for her 100 per cent….Just over a week ago, he hadn't even known she existed, let alone that she was his daughter and Mary would bet, if anyone would have asked him then if he wanted children, he would have said no because of everything with Emily. She thought of her own father and even though she would never admit out loud, she always dreamed of him coming back and fixing everything wrong in her life. Of him being there for her no matter what just like Marshall was and will be for Taylor… but deep down, she knew that was never going to happen.

"Mare?" He questioned when he realized she wasn't following them. "You okay?"

"Yeah, sure…" She forced a smile before following them.

XxXxX

The night, Marshall followed Mary back into her hotel room and sat on the bed while she moved around the room, pulling things out of the bag she hadn't bothered to unpack.

After a few minutes, she stopped and looked at him. "What? Are you planning on staying here tonight?"

"What was all that about tonight?" Marshall asked. "With Taylor?"

"It was nothing…" Mary turned away again, pretending to search for something in her bag so she wouldn't have to look at him.

"Mary, come on." Marshall stood up to walk over to her. "If there is a problem or something...Is she worried about me being here? Is it too much too soon?"

"Marshall…" She sighed and stood up straight, facing him again. "She loves that you're here."

"Then what?"

"Like I told you earlier, it was girl talk." Mary claimed and held up a hand to stop him from interrupting. "And no, I don't like girl talk but she came out to me with it…"

"But why?"

"Let her tell you herself…" She advised. "I don't want to get in the middle of anything between you guys and I think it will do your relationship with her good if you let her to come to you."

Marshall thought about it for a few seconds before nodding. "Okay but you'll tell me if I need to know anything?"

She reached out and squeezed his forearm. "Of course."

"Okay." He sighed and gave her a wary smile. "Well, I guess I'll see you in the morning?"

"Yep….Don't let me sleep in for breakfast."

He rolled his eyes as he opened the door to leave "Like I would risk life and limbs by doing that."

"Shut up and let me go to sleep."

"Good night." He said softly.

"Marshall?" She called out just as he was closing the door.

"Yeah?"

"You don't need to worry about being a Dad." She told him. "I mean, things aren't going to be easy but I know you'll be a good Dad…I know you'll put Taylor first."

Marshall frowned a little and stepped back into in the room. "Are you sure everything is okay?"

"I guess all this has made me think…"

"What about?"

"About a lot of things…about my relationship with Raph is one thing." She sat down on the edge of the bed, suddenly feeling very tired. "And…about my Dad."

"Your Dad?" His eyebrows rose in surprise at the mention of him.

"I think it's beginning to hit home that he never going to come back…and if he does it will most likely course me a headache rather than be a happy reunion." She fingered her necklace as he took a seat beside her. "I watched you with Taylor today and realized that's what a father…a parent should be like."

Marshall let out a loud sigh. "I appreciate that you give me that much credit but it's not that simple…What you've been through with your Dad is not that simple."

"I do know that but all this had made me realize it's time to move on." She told him. "I'm not some little girl stood at the window waiting for Daddy to come home."

"You want to move on?" Marshall repeated. "What does that mean? Move on from everything? From Albuquerque?"

"No, nothing like that." She assured him when she saw the concern on his face. "I don't love Raph… Not enough… not like I should."

"But you still agreed to marry him." Marshall commented, although he didn't sound surprise by her admission.

"Because it was easy… Because when it failed I wouldn't be the one left heartbroken." She explained. "It's a sucky thing to do but I don't think I could handle getting my heartbroken so I settled for Raph because he's a good man who cares for me…"

"When you meet someone who is right for you then it won't seem so hard." Marshall told her. "It will still be scary…maybe even more so but would be because you're willing to risk your heart for that person regardless of the heartache."

"What if I think I've already found that person?" She asked, looking into his eyes.

Marshall's eyes widened a little. "Have you?"

She nodded. "The thing is, he's had a bit of a bad time lately…had a lot of big news and even had his heartbroken…I don't think he's ready for anything else just yet."

He stared at her, completely in disbelief at what he was hearing…or what he thought he was hearing.

"If he's worth it then you can wait for him…" Marshall's throat suddenly became dry. "You can't rush into these things."

"What if he doesn't want the same thing as me?"

"Mare, I don't think you need to worry about that." He laughed lightly.

"Okay, I can wait for him."

Marshall hesitated before reaching out and taking her hand in his, squeezing it gentle. "Thank you."

"What for?" She questioned.

"For everything." He shrugged and stood up. "I should go…"

"Yeah, it's getting late." She followed him over to the door. "See you at breakfast."

He thought about leaning in for a kiss but changed his mind before he could. "Good night then."

"Night." She replied.

Once the door was closed, Marshall leaned back against the wall and rubbed his eyes with hands, resisting the urge to knock on the door and make sure that the guy that Mary had been talking about was actually him because with his luck, it could be someone else.

XxXxX

"That's strange…" Marshall said as they pulled up outside Joanne's house the next morning and saw Taylor sat on the wall. "She looks upset."

Mary stayed silent, not sure what to say, knowing Marshall would figure out that she already knew what had upset Taylor.

"Hey…" Marshall greeted his daughter as he got out the car. "Everything okay?"

Taylor shrugged and looked down, fighting back tears.

"Taylor?" Marshall said in concern as he moved to stand in front of her. "What is it?"

"Mom and I had a fight…" She cried. "She hates me."

"She doesn't hate you…" Mary joined them. "She's your mom."

"I told her." Taylor looked up at her. "I told and she hates me."

"Told her what?" Marshall questioned but Taylor just cried harder. "Mary?"

She sighed. "I'm going to give you guys a few minutes."

"Don't go." Taylor grabbed hold of her arms. "Stay! Please!"

"Okay, what's going on?" Marshall asked, looking between the two of them.

"Taylor has something to tell you…" Mary moved so she stood beside Taylor, leaning back against the wall and facing Marshall. "She has some pretty big news."

"What is it?" Marshall questioned but Taylor was looking back down at the ground, crying again. "Hey, come on…it can't be that bad."

"It is…" She whispered.

He lifted her chin with his fingers so she was looking at him and brushed away some of the tears. "Well, it doesn't matter if it is bad….you can still tell me."

"I'm….I'm pregnant." She told her, tears falling faster now. "I messed up…I'm so stupid… I just met you and I ruined everything…."

Marshall stared at her, completely unprepared for that and Mary suddenly felt guilty for not giving him some kind of heads up. She just prayed he made the right move now and not prove her wrong then she told Taylor he would be there for her.

"Pregnant?" He whispered, still staring at her.

"I don't know what to do…" She cried. "Tell me what to do…"

He finally moved, pulling her into his arms. He had no idea what to tell her or how to fix it but all he could think of was the day he found out that Tia was pregnant with Emily. He had been so scared and confused but the one thing that he could remember most was he wanted…needed his parents to tell him it would be okay but he never got that.

"It's okay." He whispered into her hair. "We'll figure it out….I promise."

TBC

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