Hey fanfiction! I know, its been forever, and you've probably forgotten all about this story, but I'm finally updating!
Please review :) That would be great
And hopefully, I'll be on fanfiction a lot more now that school isn't so crazy!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own N2N. Not even with the new cast.
Natalie and Henry had slept in Diana's guest room that night. Natalie couldn't stop crying. It took a lot of hugs and soothing words from Henry to ease her pain. But it didn't last very long. She was astonished that she even managed to get in three hours of sleep. She was up at five and wandered into the kitchen. Diana was up making a cup of tea. That didn't surprise Natalie. Back when they all had been living under one roof, everyone was used to Diana being up at all hours.
"Good morning, honey," she said with a smile. "You want something to drink? Or eat?"
"I'm not-" Natalie was going to say she wasn't hungry. She rarely ate breakfast. But her stomach was growling. "Sure, I guess. Whatever you have is fine."
Diana began pouring an extra cup of tea and let Natalie drink it while she began preparing some eggs and toast. After a bit of silence, Diana spoke. "Do you want to talk about what happened with your dad or would you rather wait until Henry's up?"
"It's probably easier without Henry here," Natalie answered.
"Alright. What's going on?"
Natalie couldn't hold it in much longer. She wouldn't. Her mom needed to know. She needed that support. "I'm pregnant."
"What?" Natalie couldn't tell if Diana was upset or not. Her eyes had a familiar vacancy about them.
"Henry and I made a huge mistake and now I'm having a baby. Henry got into a huge fight with his dad about it, and then when we went home to talk to Dad, he kicked us out. We had no where to go." Natalie started crying again. "I really screwed up. I'm one huge failure."
"Natalie, you know that's not true," Diana said, rushing to her daughter. "You're a beautiful, strong, intelligent woman, and you will make a fantastic mother."
"How can you say that?" Natalie cried. "Why aren't you mad? You're a parent! You should be screaming at me. You should be furious. I would be."
"But I'm not like most mothers. I've been through the same thing, a baby in college. It's not easy and it sure isn't something your parents are proud of, but at least I know how it feels. Everything is so different. You're confused and scared. All of the older women in your birthing classes seem like their judging you because of your age. But you have to know your not alone. You'll have Henry. And even if you don't have your father, you have me."
"But I need both of you," Natalie whispered.
"Your dad will come around. I'll make sure of it. All that matters now is that you stay healthy, and when that baby comes, you make sure it's loved. If you don't or can't love it, then you shouldn't have brought it into the world. You loved Henry enough to make the child, you have to show your child that same love."
It was so strange hearing that from her mother. Natalie had grown up feeling so unloved, and yet there her mother stood preaching about how she needed to love her baby because she had made the decision to have it in the first place. But Natalie didn't really want it. Was that wrong? Should she terminate the pregnancy? Was it too late?
"Is it...Could I do something about it?" Natalie asked. "If I knew I wasn't ready, if I really, really knew I couldn't handle a baby. If I knew that bringing a child into the world was the wrong decision, could I stop it? Is it too late for me to have an abortion?"
Diana looked confused for a moment, like she wasn't expecting her daughter to say such a thing, but then she smiled and patted Natalie's back. "You're probably not too far along. But that's a very serious decision. You need to talk to Henry first, and you need to make sure it's what you really want."
"Right, right, of course," Natalie said quickly, but all she could think about was that she had finally found a ticket out of her worst nightmare.
Henry had pulled the car over the minute he heard the word "abortion".
"Natalie, no way!" he said. "You're just upset and confused right now. Deep down you know you could never do that."
"Henry, come on," she said. "You know we're not ready for a kid."
"When I agreed to come on this little drive with you, I thought we would talk about something happy and nice. Like a baby name. I was not expecting to hear you even suggest killing our child."
"Don't say it like that. Honestly, Henry, can you really say you want a baby right now? A baby you have to take care of and love with your whole heart? Can we honestly give that much of ourselves yet? Are we really ready? I'm not, that's for sure. I need to sort out my life, my career, before I can even think of having a child. And I wanted us to be married before we have a family."
"But that's not exactly how it happened, Natalie. We have to take what life throws at us. Are you honestly going to give up this easily?"
"This isn't some game, Henry," Natalie snapped. "We can't "give up" and quit here. We are talking about our whole future. Could you afford to go to grad school and get that extra degree in education you're always talking about if we had to worry about providing for a child? Could I even think about going to medical school when we would barely be able to pay for formula and diapers."
"You're acting like we'd be living on our own with no income whatsoever," Henry said. "I'd obviously get a job, Natalie. I'm not stupid. And if worse came to worse we could probably live with your mom if we needed help."
"Live with my mom? And how would make that commute from my mom's house to UCLA everyday for class? We'd have to drop out of college to get any form of help from our families. I'm sorry, but I refuse to give up my education for anything."
"Not even me? What if something was wrong with me? What if I had to quit because of a family problem?"
"That's different."
"Not really. Natalie, the baby inside of you is one half me, one half you. That means I have a say in its future just as much as you do. I won't let you do it."
"God, Henry, what's the big deal?" Natalie shouted. "One, two, three, it could all be over like that! We could do it this weekend and be back at school and tell Stella and everyone it was all a big misunderstanding. One huge scare and we promise to never do anything like that again. We could make things right with our parents. This problem can easily be solved."
"A baby isn't a problem, Natalie," Henry said firmly. "It is a beautiful gift from God that should be treasured from the moment of conception."
"It's not a real baby until it's in my arms. That's how I'm looking at this. Please, Henry, just please support me on this one. The baby's in my body. It should be my decision."
"No, it's our decision. And I'm telling you that I don't want this."
"Fine. And I'm telling you that I need to do this. I have to do this. There is no other option."
Henry looked at her very seriously right in the eyes. His voice was steady and firm even though he was falling apart inside. "Natalie, I swear to god and on all that is holy that if you get an abortion, I will leave you."
"Henry, seriously, you're over-"
"No. I'm telling you the truth. It's your decision."
Natalie and Henry barely spoke the rest of the day. He retreated to the guest bedroom right when they returned to Diana's place. She wasn't home. She left a hardly legible note saying that she had to run many errands and that she hoped they were okay. She'd be back before dinner. Natalie was left alone in the kitchen, just thinking.
She didn't know what to do. She was so sure that Henry would be on her side. She thought he would understand. But she had been wrong. Very wrong. She didn't know he would make such threats. She didn't think she would ever have to worry about Henry leaving her. But she didn't want to have a baby. She couldn't go through with that. Not now. She knew the baby wouldn't be loved. At least not by her. She would most likely resent the child, and then end up hating herself for it the rest of her life. That was too much to handle. It was all too much to handle.
She finally decided she needed to just get it done. She opened up the phone book and dialed the free clinic for some information on it all. They recommended a good facility to do the procedure. She set up an appointment for a consultation that very night.
When she came back, no one asked her where she had been. Henry hadn't even noticed she was gone. The doctor had told her it was still alright to go through with the termination. But she would need to make her decision before it was too late.
Dinner was in total silence. Diana had given up on trying to make Natalie and Henry talk. Henry let Natalie have the bed that night, since she was carrying their child-he was sure to stress that. But he didn't know she had made an appointment to have her abortion the very next day.
Pretty heavy, I know. Definitely not what I expected. But please review and let me know what you think!
And hopefully I'll have an update really really soon for you :)