Hey everyone :) I hope you all had happy holidays and an amazing New Year! I have to say 2012 is looking pretty good for me so far - I saw One Direction live so it was a good start for me! :) Now, this chapter took me quite a while to get into and I'm not sure how good it is to be honest but hey ho ;) I just wanted to make sure I update with something rather than leave the story for a while and then get bored with it! :) I really hope everyone is ok and life is good for them! :)

Here's the next chapter for y'all! :)

Darcy's POV

I pulled my duvet up over my head as the California sun beamed onto my face from my bedroom window. Stupid sun, why did it have to be so frickin' bright? I felt a forceful kick in my stomach, as my baby decided to let me know that it was awake.

"Yeah you would be awake wouldn't you?" I muttered to my stomach as I stroked my growing bump. Don't get me wrong I loved this kid, but it keeps me up all night with its kicking. I'm lucky if I get to sleep for more than an hour at a time with this baby. I can see it being energetic when it grows up. I reached over to pick up my phone from my bedside table.

November 30th. Over a month since I was admitted to hospital. The last thing I really saw about the guys was the news programme I saw in hospital, since then everyone has tried to keep me away from stuff to do with them.

I just kinda get on with everything now. I don't want to avoid them, in fact I want nothing more than to speak with them but it would probably just be too hard. Just bring everything back again.

Not only was it a month since I'd been in hospital, but it was also my birthday today.

I never in a million years thought I would be celebrating my 18th birthday while I was 5 months pregnant. I stretched my arms out in front of my body and sat up awkwardly. It takes a little longer to get things done now seeing as I have this kid growing inside of me and it damn sure wasn't gonna let me get back to sleep.

I put my slippers on as best I could and put my hair up into a messy high ponytail and strolled out of my bedroom with a yawn into the main part of my apartment.

I walked out quietly with one hand cupping underneath my stomach to find Ryan fiddling with stuff on the table with his back turned to me, humming a random tune.

He'd stuck a banner on the wall saying "Happy 18th Birthday!" and laid out a lavish breakfast on the table along with some cards and parcels. Bless him, he does try hard.

"Urm Good Morning?" I said slightly confused by the whole set up, interrupting his chirpy singing.

He turned around quickly with wide eyes as he reached for a party blower on the table before blowing through it loudly, creating a deafening noise throughout the whole apartment.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" he shouted at the top of his voice with his arms spread wide open.

I giggled as he lunged forward and pulled my into a loving hug, as tightly as he could without hurting me. I swear he gets more excited on my birthdays than I do.

"Thank you Ry." I smiled back at him as we pulled apart and he led me over to a chair in front of the table before taking the seat opposite me.

He put on a whole spread of anything I could have possibly eaten and because of my heightened sense of smell it smelt amazing.

We ended up sitting and talking for ages while I opened the cards and presents that had arrived for me. Ryan gave me a gorgeous charm bracelet with an 18th birthday charm that I loved.

He took the day off and we spent the day just lounging around watching films and stuffing our faces with whatever unhealthy food we could find. It was reminded of me of how it used to be when we first moved here. No complications or distractions – just a relaxing, happy day.

In the evening Mrs Knight offered to make a birthday dinner for me, Ryan, Katie, Camille and obviously herself. She was so sweet and it was absolutely delicious.

I thanked them all for the presents they had given me – Camille got me some gorgeous sparkly heels that had caught my eye when we went shopping a couple of weeks ago and she told me that they're for when we next go out after the baby's born.

Katie framed the photo of me and her in our 60's outfits that we took while we went shopping and Mrs Knight said that she would buy me anything I needed when she takes me baby shopping in the future. I'm not even related to them but I feel like they care about me. In my opinion, they are my family.

After dinner, Camille and Ryan we watching a film on the sofa, Katie said she just had to go to her room for something and I helped Mrs Knight with the washing up, despite her protests.

"So, how have you been feeling?" She asked me as she passed me another plate for me to dry.

"Actually, not too bad. I haven't felt dizzy or anything since I've been taking the tablets and generally, everything's pretty good." I smiled back. "Other than the sleeping..." I muttered under my breath.

"Keeping you up with kicking?" She chuckled.

"Yeah...how did you know?" I asked slightly confused as to how she could possibly know that.

"Oh, just a guess. I went through it too. Not so much with Katie but Kendall was definitely agile shall we say." She chuckled.

I winced a little at the mention of my best friend's name before showing a small smile at hearing Mrs Knight talk about her children with such pride.

"Oh I'm sorry sweetie; I know I probably shouldn't mention them but..."she tried to say but I interrupted her with a smile.

"Actually it's fine. I mean it's not that I don't want to hear about them, it's just...I...I really miss them." I said softly as she pulled me into a motherly hug and gave me a knowing smile.

We carried on washing the dishes and just generally chatting for about 20 minutes before she looked around for her absent daughter.

"Darcy would you be a dear and go and tell Katie to come out of her room and be sociable please?"

I laughed and nodded as I headed to the teenagers room.

I could hear voices' coming from her room, so I stood outside her door for a second trying to listen to what was going on but it was too muffled for me to understand.

I knocked on her door before opening it slowly.

"Katie?"

"Oh hey Darcy." She smiled at me before looking down at her computer screen with wide eyes. Weird.

"Your mom wants you to watch the film with us." I smiled at her as she shifted in her seat slightly with her eyes darting between my face and the computer screen.

She's never normally like this. She seems anxious and slightly on edge.

"Oh yeah, just coming." She replied with an excessively big smile.

I just stroked the top of my stomach as I looked at her with a quizzical look on my face before nodding and turning for the door.

"Darcy?" I heard a familiar voice ask. But it wasn't Katie's voice.

I froze slightly and turned back around to see Katie's eyes wide staring at her computer screen.

"Was that..." I whispered to Katie quietly and she just nodded slightly in return.

I took a deep breath and nodded back at her.

"I'll just leave you alone for a minute." Katie smiled at me as she walked past me to reach the door of her bedroom.

I kept one hand on my stomach as I slowly walked towards the computer screen on the other side of her desk.

I don't know why but my heart was racing and I suddenly felt very protective of my baby. I knew nothing could hurt it but I just wanted to keep it safe all the same.

I glanced at the screen to see what was going on but not far enough so that I could be seen. As soon as I saw the screen my hand flew over my mouth and my eye started to water slightly.

Phew, deep breaths Darcy. C'mon you can do this. Your 18 years old and you're gonna have a baby – you can damn sure handle this right now.

I took a deep breath and sat down on the chair in front of the screen with a small smile on my face.

"Hey guys." I smiled and said quietly. "Long time no see." I chuckled.

"Darcy!" Carlos shouted with a cheesy grin and I giggled back at his smiling face. I missed his optimism – he always made me smile no matter what was going on.

"Hey Cee." Logan smiled at me with his signature smile and a little wave. I could tell he wasn't really sure how to act in this situation, but in all honesty, neither was I. It was weird to see them again.

"Hi Darce." Kendall said quietly with a smile.

I smiled back at them and without even realising, a couple of tears slid down my cheeks. It was so good to hear their voices again and actually see them smiling back at me just got to me a little.

"Darcy, are you crying?" Kendall asked and all their faces immediately looked really concerned, like they'd done something wrong.

I giggled a little and wiped the tears from my jaw line. "Urm, yeah, it's just...it's just really good to see you guys again. I missed you." I smiled back as a couple more tears fell down my face. "Damn hormones."

"Aww we miss you too!" Carlos beamed back bringing his face closer to the camera but then Logan pulled him back to his seat as Kendall spoke.

"So we actually wanted to say, Happy Birthday!"

Carlos and Logan pulled a couple of party poppers in the background and cheered as I giggled at their actions.

"Thanks guys." I grinned back them.

"We sent your present to Katie and actually it should be right next to you on the floor." Logan told me as I searched around the chair I was sitting on.

Sure enough on the carpet next to my chair was a large box wrapped in silver paper with a large ice blue bow around it. How did I miss that?

I lean over, as best I can considering the circumstances, to pick up the parcel by my feet. I swear that being pregnant limits absolutely everything you do – can't even pick up a box without it taking up all of your energy.

"You mean this box?" I asked as I held it up to the camera to see three smiling faces nodding back at me.

I put the box just to the side of the laptop and played with the ribbon as Carlos shouted at me to open it already.

I giggled as I took the ribbon off and tied it around my forehead before pulling the paper off the box and opening the top and reaching in.

There were a series presents wrapped up in tissue paper, a couple of things wrapped in more paper and a small box placed carefully on top of them all.

"Guys, this is way, way too much..." I told them as I looked into the box filled with stuff and took the little box inside of it out.

"Yeah, but it's from all 3 of us and it's for our favourite girl, so it's worth it." Kendall smiled into the camera as I lifted the lid of the small box and looked inside.

"The hockey stick is from me, the helmet is from Carlos and the stethoscope is from Logan." Kendall explained as I smiled at the contents of the box.

"It's just so you have a little something to remember us by and look at whenever you miss us." Carlos beamed while tapping the helmet on his head twice.

"Mama Knight told us that Ryan got you a charm bracelet so we thought they'd be a nice additional." Logan continued

I felt my eyes well up as I ran my finger over the 3 charms in the box I was holding. Each one of their chosen charms really reminded me of each of them. Kendall will always be a hockey player at heart; Logan will always be the cleverest person I know and would be an amazing doctor and Carlos, well, that's obvious.

"They're beautiful guys, I love them. Thank you." I whispered happily as I wiped a couple more tears away. It was such a beautiful idea and so thoughtful.

The guys looked pretty happy with themselves as they all high fived each other, knowing that they had thought of an amazing present.

As I went through the rest of the gifts I found a box set of Reality TV shows that Logan promised to watch with me when they get back and a scrapbook full of all of our favourite photos from the past few years.

We laughed and joked as I looked through them all, reminiscing all the old times. It was so good to talk to them again; I had missed my best friends so much. I honestly don't know how I went this long without speaking to them.

I pulled out the last two gifts at the bottom of the box. They were wrapped in green tissue paper and felt like some sort of fabric or something.

"Oh, those ones aren't so much for you...they're more, well, you'll see..." Logan tried to explain without telling me exactly they were and I had to giggle slightly at his stumbling around with words as I unwrapped the tissue paper.

I lifted up the material inside in front of me and smiled at what it was. A Minnesota Wild baby grow. I laughed as the guys smiled back at me on the screen.

"Just so the baby knows straight away who it supports." Kendall explained with a cheesy grin as they all held their thumbs up.

I laughed and began to open the other one to find another baby onesie but this one was plain with message printed right on the front.

"I love my uncles." I said quietly as I read the print on the chest on the onesie.

"It's for the baby." Carlos clarified with a cheesy grin as Logan and Kendall rolled their eyes at his stating the obvious.

"I kinda guessed Carlitos." I smiled back at him as I rested the onesie over my bump and stroked my stomach.

I suddenly felt a forceful kick as I stretched the "I Love My Uncles" one right over the baby. "Ooh." I said quickly and rushed my hand to spot that'd just been hit.

"Are you ok?"

"Darcy, what's wrong?"

"What just happened? Is the baby ok?"

I could hear a variety of questions being asked, overlapping one another making it impossible to answer any of them.

I looked up at the screen to see 3 panicked faces leaning towards the camera. Carlos looked like he was about to burst into tears and Kendall and Logan were exchanging worried glances.

"I think they like their present that's all." I said quietly running my fingers along my stomach in circles.

"Aww, that's sweet. Well we love him or her already. How has our favourite kid been recently?" Kendall asked relaxing slightly knowing that everything is ok.

"Good, they're good. Doesn't really like me getting much sleep and has me eating every kinda food under the sun but they're good. At least I know that he or she is healthy." I replied with a smile.

"That's good to hear. Everyone kinda went into panic mode when we heard about you going into hospital last month." Logan explained lowering his voice slightly as if it was a touchy subject.

Honestly, my heart did sink a little when I relived the whole hospital ordeal but at least it's all over now and I'm past it.

"So you guys did hear about that then?" I asked quietly giving a kinda sad smile to the camera in front of me.

"Yeah, Camille told us all about it. She rang as soon as she found out." Logan continued rubbing the back of his neck as I nodded knowing that Camille would've done something like that. I should remember to thank her later.

"Yeah, since then Logan has been reading every book on anaemia and being pregnant and anaemic he can find. He probably knows more about it than you do." Kendall joked and I laughed knowing that that was probably true.

"Yeah, everyone went into a huge panic mode. I mean you should've seen James..." Carlos started before Logan and Kendall widened their eyes and Logan hit him in the arm at the mention of his name.

I flinched and my heart race increased when I heard about James, but I was too interested in what Carlos had just said. Panic?

"Wait, what?" I asked quietly as all 3 of the guys looked down at the floor and tried to avoid eye contact with me. I could tell they weren't sure if they should say anything.

"Guys, what are you talking about? I wanna know." I said sternly as I was determined to find out what Carlos meant.

"OK, when we heard about the whole incident with you and the paparazzi and the hospital, James just...he...well he kinda flipped."Kendall explained.

Flipped?

"What do you mean 'flipped'?" I asked curiously, really quite confused by my best friends choice of words.

"He just...he just kinda switched. He flipped out at some paparazzi because you were hurt by some and he was serious about flying back home but Gustavo and Griffin wouldn't let him..." Logan explained quietly, mumbling slightly so I had to really listen to hear what he was saying.

Flying home? He tried to...fly...home. My heart started to beat faster than I thought it could and I could feel my chest rising and falling quickly.

He was gonna fly home? He felt the need to fly home? I don't understand...Why would he want to do that? He hates me. I ruined his life and he doesn't love me anymore so why would he want to do that?

"He wanted...he was gonna..." I stuttered out unable to get my words out and try and understand what I had just been told.

I could feel the baby moving around in my stomach as if it knew we were talking about its dad and they wanted to hear more.

"Why would he do that? He told me himself, he doesn't love me anymore..." I trailed off stroking my stomach, unable to comprehend what I had just heard.

But as Carlos opened his mouth to reply, I saw Logan's eyes widen at something past the camera and he hit Kendall on the arm to draw his attention to what he'd just seen.

"Guys, Are you talking to someone? I swear I just heard...heard..."

My eyes widened at the voice I could hear coming from the microphone. The voice I loved to hear from day and night. The voice that used to comfort me whenever I needed it. The voice that sounded absolutely breathtaking whenever I heard it sing.

His voice.

James' voice.

I could see three wide faces staring down at me in the camera, I know they were silently asking for permission to tell him it was me.

I just shook my head and looked down at the floor. I can't believe I was actually hearing his voice and that he heard my voice. Was he listening to our conversation? He recognized my voice?

I couldn't do this. I don't know why but I just couldn't bring myself to listen or see what was going on. It was too much too fast. I just mouthed 'sorry' to the guys on screen before closing the laptop and ending the conversation.

I leaned back in my chair and took a deep breath. I felt another kick to my stomach as I ran my hand over my bump again.

"I know baby, I know..." I whispered.

So there you go :) Not much but at least it's something right? Again, I would like to thank anyone who had reviewed or favourited this story - you have no idea how much it means to me :) I love writing and knowing that people are reading your work really motivates me! :) I love hearing from you guys and I really appreciate it, so I would absolutely love to hear your opinions and thoughts! Once again thank you! :)

Much Love Always

Ally xx