I'm so glad to hear you liked my little plot twist at the end.

I've had that planned for a while now, and I couldn't wait to see your reaction.

Let's see Chad's reaction now, shall we?

Enjoy!

Emily's POV

"Uh...um. C-come in," I stammered. I quickly moved aside to let him in. "Just take a seat on the couch."

"Thank you," he replied and took a seat. I noticed him study my face. "Emily?"

"Hmm?" I replied.

"You married Chad?" A smile crossed his face.

I returned his smile with my own. "Yes, sir. Soon after I graduated college."

"Well, I'm very proud of you. Did Chad graduate college?"

I nodded. "Got his degree in business. He owns his own sporting goods shop in town."

"Wow," he said quietly, almost breathlessly.

"Do you want me to go get him? He's right in the backyard playing with our nephew."

"Yes, please."

I nodded, smiling and walked towards the backdoor, wondering what the hell I was supposed to tell Chad. 'Oh, yes, by the way, honey, we have a guest for dinner. Yeah, its your dad. The one you haven't talked to in almost 16 years.' Oh yes, that would totally work.

"Chad?" I called out the backdoor, but Andrew's laughing drowned out my voice. "CHAD!"

"What'd I do?" He looked up, Andrew on his shoulders.

"Nothing, just come here."

He walked up to the door, still a bit hesitant. "Andrew, how about you go upstairs and play for a while?"

"Aw, do I have to?"

"Just for a little while."

"Oh-kay," he said, defeated. Chad let him off his shoulders and Andrew ran up to the guest room to play.

"Seriously, what'd I do? I don't remember doing anything...It's not the baby is it? I mean, everything's okay right?"

"Chad, calm down." I put a hand up to stop him. "Your dad's here."

He blinked and shook his head a couple of times. "My who?"

"Dad. He's in the living room."

"I suggest you get him out." His voice began to fill with anger.

"Chad, don't do this. He came to see you. Maybe he just wants to talk..."

"About what? The way he abandoned me and my mother for almost 15 years? I'm not interested."

"Stop this. Give him a chance, Chad." I put a hand on his shoulder.

He sighed and looked into my eyes, trying to figure out which was the best decision. Finally, he slowly nodded. "Fine. One chance."

"Go," I said quietly and pushed him towards the door.

He turned around and looked at me once more. "Go," I mouthed. He turned and stepped into the living room.

No POV

"D-dad?" Chad stammered uncertainly, still not fully convinced the man sitting on his couch was his father. The man he last talked to when Chad was almost 13 years old as his fahter was driving away from his life. His now ex-wife and son.

The man looked up from the couch and Chad instantly recognized the features that were also his own. The eyes, the nose, and basically the overall face structure. "Chad," the man responded in a deep voice. A voice that haunted Chad's memories.

Even though Chad was going through complete dread, the man seemed to be excited to see him. "How have you been?"

"How have I been?" Chad repeated in disbelief. "You abandon me for 16 years, and the first thing you say to me is 'how have you been'?"

"Chad --"

"Don't even start with me. I was 12 when you left. I needed a father! And you just took off and I never heard from you again!"

"Chad, I can explain."

"OH, I'M SURE YOU CAN. YOU ALWAYS COULD EXPLAIN IT, DAD. IT WAS NEVER YOUR FAULT WHEN YOU CAME HOME LATE OR ANYTHING ELSE."

"Chad, you were young. You didn't know the whole story."

"I knew enough."

"Oh did you? What did you know?"

"You left me and mom. You didn't want me."

"That's not true." He sighed before continuing, "Chad, I was an alcoholic. Your mother was furious with me, and we had a huge fight. We finally decided splitting would be the best thing. Not only for our happiness, but for you, too."

"Me going without a father for the rest of my life was the best thing?"

"I'd come in very late, so drunk, and sometimes I did violent things. I didn't want you to fall unfortunate victim to that. And I always expected your mother to re-marry."

"She did remarry," Chad said quietly and looked down.

"Well, I'm happy for her."

"Don't be. He hurt both of us. She ended up running off and leaving me with Emily and her family until the police got him."

"Chad...I...I didn't know," his father stammered.

"You didn't know because you never kept in touch with me," Chad said through gritted teeth.

"I was in rehab for being an alcoholic! I didn't get out until a couple of years ago. I've been looking for you since."

"You...you were looking for me?" His voice dropped to a curious tone.

"Yes, of course. Why wouldn't I want to see my only son? And that wife of yours." He nudged his son jokingly.

Chad laughed softly, "She's amazing."

And with that, a silent apology had been made and accepted between both of them. Father and son were finally reunited.

Emily had been watching from the doorway silently, and, if the pair were looking, they would have seen a warm smile spread over her face.

Chad and his father sat on the couch and began to catch up on the past 16 years. This'll be a while, Emily thought and went to start some dinner.

"I'll stop by tomorrow," William Danforth assured his son.

"Okay." Chad nodded.

"I'm glad I came." William smiled.

"Me too."

"See you tomorrow, son." He put a hand on Chad's shoulder, and left.

"Now was that so terrible?" Emily wrapped her arms around him, a smirk slowly appearing on her face.

"Oh, be quiet." Chad laughed softly and held her.

Emily remained silent, seemingly deep in thought. But Chad senseed something was wrong.

"Em, what's wrong?"

"I just...I'm not so sure about this pregnancy anymore."

"What?! Why not?"

"Because...I mean, what if it happens again? What if I make a mistake? Now there's just somebody else to hurt if I do." Emily looked down.

"Baby, everything's going to be fine. I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," she whispered while looking down.

"Shhhh." Chad pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head.

Emily's POV

"Hello?" I answered the phone casually.

"EMILY KATHERINE BOLTON, WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!" my mother's voice screeched through the phone line.

Oh God. I so did not want to hear this right now. Laura's voice + morning sickness BADDD.

"Tell you what?" I sighed.

"That you were pregnant!"

"Well, maybe if you kept in touch, that wouldn't be a problem. But when you only call to criticize me, which I'm almost sure you're about to do, then you don't get the privelege of hearing important news first."

I'll blame it on the hormones later.

"Do not talk to your mother that way!"

"Is there a point to this conversation, or not?"

"Are you sure you want to have Chad's child?"

"LAURA! Of course I'm sure! I'm not like you, I marry someone because I love them, not for whatever other reason."

"I did love your father!"

"Yeah, until you saw what's-his-name and slept with him!"

"This isn't about me. It's about you, and I think you're making a mistake."

"We had this conversation at my wedding. What is your problem?"

"I just don't think he'll be able to support you and the baby."

"Yes, he will. Besides, we both have incomes, Laura. It's not a crime for the woman to work, you know."

"Maternity leave!"

"I'm a writer. I can do that in bed on the laptop. I'll keep getting paid."

"How do you know he won't leave just as it gets rough?"

"BECAUSE OUR WHOLE LIVES HAVE BEEN ROUGH AND HE HASN'T LEFT YET."

"Oh please, Emily. Your life was never rough."

"How would you know? You were never home long enough."

"Emily..."

"Just forget it, Laura. I'm having this child and you can either accept it or not. I'm not going to sit here and beg you to accept it because the stress you're putting me through is bad for the baby. Goodbye."

Click.

"She what?!"

"Chad, don't worry about it," I assured him.

"But she... I mean, what have I ever done to her?"

"Don't worry about it. She's not worth it."

"I just don't want you to listen to her."

"I'm not going to. I'm not even going to talk to her anymore."

"Emily, you need to talk to her. I mean, she is your mother."

"Only by blood."

"Emily..."

"I'll talk to her after my hormones settle. Otherwise, she'll get all pissed at me."

"Oh yes, beacause that hasn't happened already." Chad rolled his eyes and chuckled.

I shot him my glare and his laughter immediately stopped.

He put his arm around me, "Look, this will all work out in the end. I know it will."

"I hope you're right." I rested my head on his shoulder and let out a deep sigh.

"I'm always right, aren't I?" He kissed my forehead.

"...No, not really." I shook my head.

"Oh, that's it." He let go of me and dug his fingers into my ribs, tickling me.

And for a moment, just one brief moment, I didn't think about any of the stress as I laughed and squealed.

Did you like it?

Sorry it took so long. You know me and my writers' block problems. hehe.

Well, I hope you enjoyed it. More to come, I promise!

Review please!