A/N: THIS IS THE LAST COVER CHANGE I PROMISE OH MY GOD. Okay, I probably shouldn't promise anything but isn't the new cover pretty? Like omg I love it.

There's emailing in this chapter, but it's not solely between Nina and Fabian; the people in that conversation, Fabian, Amber, Jerome, and Mick, are all featured, so pay attention to the names, because it's not just between two people!

Haha, I know what you're thinking. An update, only one week later? Well, it's reality, loves; chapter 21 is actually on time! That could be both good and bad, because 3/4 of you DESPISED KT's appearance. It's actually more like 19/20. I think I got one review that actually accepted her.

KT is one of the best characters and Kabian is one the best ships, guys, but you've seen Fabina for 19 chapters; you think I would just give up on them, after everything they've been through? Well, if you thought that, you're wrong. This is the last chapter KT is featured in, I promise, and then there's the promised Fabina. I don't love them as much as I used to, unfortunetly, but there are some times that I'll see a gifset on the HoA tag and all the memories from my season 1 Fabina hardcore-shipping days return.

I kind of lied; the next chapter is the absolute last you'll see KT in, but she won't play such a big part. The next chapter, "The Breakup", will definitely be a painful one Fabina-wise, but we also have 13 chapters left, and don't doubt my complete inability to resist a happy ending.
~Lia

/o~~~o/

Fabian
Chapter 21: "The Laundromat"

"Now...explain to me everything that's happened since you reunited with her," Aaron grumbled, his voice sounding like he was driving over a bumpy road. I wouldn't be surprised if he was.

I sat on my bed in the middle of the day on the afternoon of November 13th, 2012. There wasn't much to look at in my bedroom — a queen-sized bed with blue comforters, a few picture frames with nothing in them, and an estimate of 16 guitars scattered all around the room. Aaron wanted me to name my guitars "for luck", so the dark-brown acoustic guitar sitting next to the bed was named Grace, Emma's middle name.

I had called Aaron for reassurance after everything that happened in the past few days; he was the person who got me into the music industry in the first place, so I figured he'd know more than I would. However, he was on the road, and after knowing Aaron for as long as Emma has been alive, he'd be more focused on the road than the nineteen-year-old father slash musician on the phone.

I inhaled, staring at the tan wall. "Okay, I started, "Nina sent me the photograph on the morning of August 7th. Mick, Jerome, and I researched her and Alfie drove me to her house in Picton. We reunited. She gave me her email address, and then I went home. August 8th: I was in the studio with you. August 9th: I finally emailed her. We made plans to see Emma, my daughter. Then you—"

"Wait, hold up," Aaron interrupted, making me have an epiphany of anger in the future. "Who's Emma, again? I always get her and the mother mixed up."

"My daughter," I breathed, trying to hold my anger in a bottle. "I already told you this. I'm trying to get you caught up quickly so you can help me. I didn't call you to tell you everything that's happened to me in the past four months—"

"Wait, you've known Nina for four months and nothing has happened? Wow. Romeo and Juliet knew each other for four days before they died. And Jack and Rose knew each other for three—"

"We're not a fictional couple, Aaron!" I exploded, flinging my arms around uselessly. "We're Nina Martin and Fabian Rutter, teenage parents, one of which is a famous singer. We...we knew each other for less than a day before we had sex in 2009 — and no comments! — and even though I still can't understand how I got her pregnant after only one time, we have a child now."

I took a deep breath, collecting my thoughts before talking again so my next speech like a useless mess of even more useless words.

"Like I've said before, I think I may have just ruined everything. I was a dumbass and went out in public with Emma — my DAUGHTER — without thinking that there were old men with cameras outside. One snapped a picture, and now Nina won't talk to me because I called her a mistake and I can see my career going downhill from here. I can just see it. I have a concert with Q&A in a week! What am I going to do? What am I going to say?"

"Well, Fabian," Aaron's tone was joking no more. He sounded dead serious. "You have to ask yourself: what's more important to you, your career, which you've worked so hard for for so long, or someone whom you've known for four months, who might disappear on you any day now?"

I collapsed on the bed, staring at the ceiling; it was times like these that I really wish I had a friend around. Mick and Jerome could help me through this. Mick's gone through about 50 women in his 19 years — I think his current girlfriends name is Carissa — and Jerome had just shared his first ever kiss with Mara Jaffray a few days ago. Even Alfie could probably help me through my predicament, and him and Amber break up about every other month.

It's like I've been stuck in second gear; lately, it hasn't been my day. Or my week. Or my month. Or even my year. I skyrocketed to fame in February, then six months later, after talking with her every single day by email, after bonding with her and learning things about her and falling in love with her, a photograph had just ruined all of that. And after only four months, I couldn't stand the thought of not being a father anymore.

I knew Nina. As much as she tried to deny it, I knew her. I saw her. I knew she wouldn't call me back when I left her eighteen voicemails after KT left after our...night together. I knew how she had been putting up walls since August 7th, as oppose to knocking them down.

I knew how she realized I was trying to break her walls, therefore making her glue bricks quicker than before. I knew how she could be rude, and uncouth, and presumptuous; but there were no "buts", however. That's how she was. She didn't have a wonderful, magical "sweet and kind with rainbows and unicorn stickers" side underneath. Nina could be kind, and she could be caring, don't get me wrong, but her aura came off as unapproachable.

I supposed I was 50% of her becoming like that; I'm sure getting pregnant and not being able to find the father. then seeing he was a famous singer with no clue he had a child and not being able to tell anyone because everyone would think she was just looking for attention was sure to make you bitter.

"I don't know," I finally answered my manager, slumping back against the pillows. "I honestly don't know."

"I'm going to go out on a limb here, Fabian," Aaron announced. For a few seconds, all I heard was "oomph" and "fucking Cop". Then Aaron said into my ear, "I'm back. Like I said, I'm going out on a limb, and as your manager, I'm going to tell you what I think is best for you."

"Okay."

"Never talk to Nina again."

My reaction came a bit late; I hadn't truly realized what Aaron was saying. After talking to Nina for four months over a computer screen, after talking about our daughter and what we would do, considering the circumstances of a famous star and a seventeen-year-old mother.

"What?" I asked him calmly, sitting up slowly. "You just want me to...never talk to Nina again?"

"Exactly!" he exclaimed, as if that was something to celebrate.

"I don't...think you understand," I asked, blinking often, trying to contain my temper. My mother had yelled at me for losing my temper around my sisters; I was acting out of anger, and at the time, I didn't know how to get my anger out.

I hadn't thought much about the fact that I had called Nina a mistake; mostly because I didn't know, personally, if I agreed with what I thought.

"I'm a father, Aaron," I told him, as calmly as I could manage. "And you're not. I know I'm young - I'm only nineteen - but I've been a father for four months. And I know that doesn't sound like a long time, but if you had a child, Aaron, after he or she is four months old, would you consider yourself a father?"

Silence on the other end. I started to look over my shoulder, at my nightstand, was the photograph of Emma that Nina had originally sent me on August 7th. I framed it a few weeks ago, just in case something happened, so that I'd always have a photograph of my daughter.

It was funny, because a photograph had started my relationship with Nina, and two other photographs had torn us apart.

"I guess," Aaron finally admitted, his tone of voice ranging. "I wouldn't know. I don't plan on proposing to my girlfriend for quite a while. Where do you think things are going with Nina, Fabian? Because if you don't think it's going anywhere, I want you to block her out of your career - and your life - forever."

Silence issued from my end, at last. I began to think about everything that had happened in the past few months; from me reuniting with her, and my confusion as to why she wouldn't give me her phone number, to almost two weeks ago, when I was so concerned about her disappearance on the email that I actually drove to her house and found the note that Nina left, telling me that she left town.

Where did I see us going? Could we ever be boyfriend and girlfriend, could we ever go on dates? Would I want to do those things?

When I didn't say anything, Aaron took that as a cue to continue talking. "Fabian, I know how much this career means to you. You've been working towards being a singer since before I met you! I don't know much about Nina - all I know about her is that she's the teenage mother of your child - and I don't know what you plan to do, but isn't the future important?

"It's unpredictable," he continued. "Nobody has any idea what the future holds. You could meet somone else, someone that means so much more to you than Nina ever did. You could meet someone that made you question why you ever liked Nina in the first place. Do you see yourselves, as a couple, going anywhere? Is the idea of going somwhere more important than the future brings, career-wise?

"We have a tour planned!" he exclaimed; but on the other end, I heard car horns and sounds, so I figured he was just talking over the traffic. "There's so much to do. And you know there are cruel people, that are cruel fans who don't accept their favorite singer's significant other, they judge their relationship and shoot down the other end. I don't want that to happen to you. You love singing more than anything in the world. And I'm your manager, so I know what's better for you in this end. I want you to be happy, I want you to have fans, and I want you to go somewhere!

"You're not just my client, Fabian, you're my friend," he spoke into the receiver. "And I want what's best for you."

"I don't know what to do," I shook my head. "I care about Nina...a lot. A whole bunch. And I have no idea where I'm gonna go with her, she keeps me on my toes all the time. And like I've said, Aaron, I'm a father. I can't just abandon my child."

"I'm not saying you have to!" Aaron defended, his voice still screaming in my ear over the traffic. "I never once said you couldn't talk to both of them."

Well, I can't really talk to them, considering I don't have Nina's damn phone number, I thought bitterly, before voicing my thoughts, "I'd want to see them, though. I really do want to be a part of my child's life. I want to send her off to her first day of school, and I want to be there when she finishes it."

"This girl can wreck you, Fabian," he warned. "She could shoot you down until everyone in the world hates you."

"Yeah, I know," I told him, then hung up without another word. Glancing at the photo of my daughter on my nightstand, I grabbed my laptop, opened it, and logged on to my email, seeing that the only person that was on was Jerome.

Groaning, I started to write a message to him. No one, in my group of friends, would be good to talk to; Amber would just yell at me, Alfie would crack jokes, Mick would talk about sports, and Jerome would just con me into telling Alfie that Amber had broken up with him yet again.

Fabian Rutter Hey, Jerome.
Jerome Clarke Yo, Stutter Rutter. What's up?
Fabian Rutter Nothing. I hung up on my manager because he was annoying me. How's Mara?

I was referring to two weeks ago, when Team Fabian met up with Team Nina, and Jerome and Mara bonded and he finally got his first kiss.

Jerome Clarke Meh. She's acting a bit too bossy and commanding for my liking. How's Nina?
Fabian Rutter Haha, very funny.
Jerome Clarke No, I'm serious! Isn't she supposed to come back today?
Fabian Rutter Oh, shit! I completely forgot. What the hell am I supposed to do?
Jerome Clarke What do you mean by that? Didn't she leave town with you two on good terms?
Fabian Rutter We left on good terms, but I wouldn't say the same thing for right now. She hasn't talked to me in like four days because I called her a mistake.
Jerome Clarke HOLD ON, HOLD ON! I'm getting Amber. She's the love guru and she'd do better yelling at you over this because I'm 20 and I've only just had my first kiss.
Fabian Rutter No, no, that really isn't WOW OK THAT WAS FAST
Amber Millington Jerome said you needed me?
Fabian Rutter I do not NEED you.
Jerome Clarke Oh, please. You're worse than when Mick was with Christina.
Fabian Rutter JEROME YOU'VE TAGGED HIM!
Jerome Clarke What? What have I done? Don't judge me, /I've just had my first kiss/.
Fabian Rutter It summuns him! This email platform is horrible! You type someone's name, they basically become Lord Voldemort!
Amber Millington FABES DON'T SAY THE NAME!
Fabian Rutter Amber honey, Harry Potter isn't real.
Jerome Clarke Well, Rutter, you've just destroyed a teenager's childhood dreams.
Fabian Rutter Harry defeated Lord Voldemort five years ago*
Jerome Clarke Ya, that's better.
Fabian Rutter OK, can we get back to MY problems now? Aaron just told me to OH GOD HE'S ON.
Mick Campbell Hey guys. What's up?
Jerome Clarke Rutter's having girl problems.
Fabian Rutter I am not having GIRL PROBLEMS.
Jerome Clarke Is that why you haven't spoken to Nina in 4 days?
Mick Campbell Ooooooh...
Fabian Rutter Shut it! I'm doing just fine with the "girls", thank you very much. I saw Emma, my own child, my offspring, my own brethren, the thing my sperm produced when I was sixteen yesterday. And I saw KT yesterday too.

No one responded for a solid five minutes, as if the three of them were silently conversing without me.

Mick Campbell Who the hell is KT?
Fabian Rutter She's this girl I met in PARENTING 101 the other day.
Amber Millington A different girl?! Fabian, this isn't right.
Fabian Rutter How isn't this right? I met her. I liked her. I invited her back to my house. Why is that wrong?
Amber Millington Because it just is! Emma's only 2, she probably thinks Mommy and Daddy are a happy couple, but Daddy was on a business trip for the first 2 years of her life, and the reason why he barely shows his face now is because his job keeps him busy!
Fabian Rutter You really think a 2-year-old thinks this?
Amber Millington I don't know! I don't remember things from when I was 2! Thing is Fabian, Emma deserves a steady, happy family.
Fabian Rutter But I don't deserve happiness?!
Amber Millington What, does Nina not make you happy?
Fabian Rutter I don't know. KT is just easier to be around. No drama, no baby, no history...no nothing. No mistakes. Not like last time.
Mick Campbell I'm getting a bad feeling about this, Fabian. What could you have possibly done to make Nina so mad at you?
Fabian Rutter ...I kind of lost my temper and called her a mistake.
Mick Campbell Fabian!
Jerome Clarke :-o
Amber Millington FABIAN!
Fabian Rutter: What? I was just expressing my feelings.
Mick Campbell "expressing my feelings"? Fabian...put yourself in her shoes.
Fabian Rutter I am putting myself in a seventeen-year-old girl's shoes.
Jerome Clarke I don't give a flying fuck about her age, Fabian Rutter, you little shit. If you dared to call Nina, of all people, a mistake, then what do you call expressing your love, having sex every time someone says "I love you"?
Fabian Rutter Well...I mean, yeah. It's called "making love", isn't it? Call me old fashioned, but I think you should do it, if you do it, with someone you love.
Mick Campbell Oh, Fabian.
Jerome Clarke SHIT, Fabian. Please, please, PLEASE tell me you did not sleep with KT.

This time, I was the one to not respond. Jerome, Mick, and Amber decided that my silence was a felony; my inbox exploded with my name, "oh my God"s, and Jerome's only response was emoji faces like ":-o", "D:", "DX", and ":-("

Fabian Rutter Well...I might have.
Mick Campbell Did you get ANOTHER poor fifteen-year-old girl pregnant?!
Fabian Rutter She's not 15! (I actually don't know how old she is...) But I don't think I got her pregnant! We used a condom!
Jerome Clarke Yah, and you didn't think you got Nina pregnant in 2009, either, mate.
Fabian Rutter WE USED A CONDOM! And don't start with the "girl condoms are weak" thing because that's all I have because, oh, yeah, I HAVE FOUR SISTERS!
Jerome Clarke All right, Fabian, calm down. Don't get your knickers in a twist.
Amber Millington Don't have a cow!
Mick Campbell Stop being a chump. We know you have four sisters...but if you did get KT pregnant, THEN I CALL NAMING THE CHILD!
Amber Millington I GET TO BE THE GODMOTHER! AND THE MIDDLE NAME!
Mick Campbell Hmm...Michelle Amber Rutter, born July 14th, 2013. Brown hair and blue eyes. Or...if it's a boy, Samuel Mick Rutter.
Jerome Clarke What about me?!
Fabian Rutter I hate you all.

/o~~~o/

I had to say, she looked good with grape concord jelly on her lip.

"I have a surprise for you," KT told me, making me grin as I bit off another piece of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "Guess what it is."

"Um…" I wondered, mostly sarcastically, hoping to everything good and holy that she wasn't planning to jump out of something. Mara and I were similar in the fact that neither of us particularly liked surprises, but other than that, we opposed each other. "You're moving to Switzerland," I joked.

"No!" KT exclaimed, grinning, leaning over and slapping me on the arm. "Silly. If I did that, don't you think I'd be moping?"

"I guess," I shrugged, beginning to understand why my father opposed my relationship with Nina and Emma so much. When I brought KT back to my house, later that evening, we'd slept together. I was extra careful not to accidentally make another human being, and KT, being the woman, didn't feel much of a "baby", either, even though it's impossible to know if you're pregnant only four days after having sex.

However, I knew Nina for five hours before I started unhooking her bra strap; three thousand minutes before I said, "I'll do it if you want to do it". One hundred eighty thousand seconds before she laughed awkwardly, ran into the bathroom, and the next time we saw each other, we were butt naked, my heart threatening to pound straight out of my chest.

"Well, my surprise is this," she began, carefully placing her sandwich on the plate so as to not get any crumbs on the mahogany. "My stupid fuckass washing machine broke the other day, and I've been meaning to put in a load. I really, really don't want to go to the laundromat alone — I had this traumatizing experience when I was little, don't ask, haha — but could you, possibly...come with me?"

"Sure," I told her, grinning.

She shot me a grin before picking up her sandwich and biting into it again, but watching her, I couldn't stop thinking about the girl I had met three years ago; the girl that was so different from how she is, changed by a pregnancy she didn't even want.

KT ate her sandwich happily and gratefully, but I couldn't stop thinking about Nina. I didn't know the feeling: sadness, confusion, bitterness, remorse, sympathy? I know I hadn't gotten KT pregnant after our night together, but what if it was 2009?

What if the date on the calendar read August 28th, 2009? What if it was four days after my night with Nina, and she was eating a sandwich in front of me? I would've had to have given her my name for her to do that, at least. With KT, however, I told her my name and where I live, just in case — I was not taking any chances — but when I woke up four days ago, in my bed, KT was sleeping right next to me. She didn't run away like Nina did three years ago.

"We better get going," KT announced, rubbing her hands together to get all the spare bread crumbs off her fingers. "The laundromat will be uber crowded if we go any later. You sure you want to come?"

"Of course!" I said happily, picking up my empty plate and dropping it in the sink. It was Rosie's turn to do dishes tonight.

KT laced her arm through mine and led me out to the car; earlier today, after Jerome, Mick, and Amber made me so paranoid that I had gotten KT pregnant, I called her right after and invited her back to my house to have lunch. She laughed along with me as I asked her if she thought she was pregnant, and we'd been talking and eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all afternoon.

This time, she got into the car without a word and waited for me to join her in the drivers seat; KT commented how she still thought it was strange that Brits drove on the other side of the road, compared to America.

It was quite funny listening to KT talk about America, like I'd never heard about it before. She told me all about how she visited New York City every winter to see the beautiful Christmas Tree that went up every year, how Six Flags: Great Adventure in New Jersey was her favorite amusement park, and that her main goal in life was to see all of the "popular tourist attractions" in the USA before she was thirty.

I hadn't told KT about Nina and/or Emma; I had denied Eddie's offer to watch my daughter for the past day or two in fear that KT might pop in to say hello and see me with Emma, playing and laughing and smiling; KT still thought that Emma was inside Chloe's womb.

She didn't know about Nina, nor the fact that I was the father of her baby; I was afraid it would drive KT away. The fact that she was talking about America as if I knew nothing about it made me chuckle; I'd been talking to Nina for four months over a computer screen. When you talk to an American, usually, they tend to brag about their country; but I also think that's just Eddie wearing off on her. I swear to Christ, Eddie Miller is the most patriotic man I have ever seen.

"So..." I began, driving to our destination after KT had given me directions. "Did you like your PB&J sandwich?" I joked, waggling my eyebrows in a suggestive way, which was totally out of character for myself. Just like Eddie's patriotism had wore off on Nina a bit, my stupid manager Aaron had wore off on me with his Confidence Lessons since 2009.

She laughed. "Totally," she agreed, moving her hands around. "A peanut butter and jelly sandwich, huh? That's what you have? Wow. Music to drown by. Now I know I'm in first class. Wait, over here!" she suddenly interrupted, pointing to the shopping on the corner that I nearly missed.

I pulled into the parking lot. We got out at the same time, so she started leading me into the store first. I was tempted to go straight to KT and hold her hand; I knew she'd been under a lot of pressure lately. With the fact that this poor girl had been given the responsibility of looking after her four-year-old nephew at such a young age, with no idea whatsoever that her sister was going to die, and with KT going back to school in December, she must have had a lot on her shoulders.

While I desperately wanted to hold her hand, there was this lingering feeling of suspicion and sadness — maybe even guilt? — that I felt deep within my soul.

And as the feeling grew closer, I could almost feel it in the laundromat KT and I were just walking into.

"So how long are we going to be here?" I wondered, my question aimed toward her.

KT shrugged, walking through the doors and grabbing a basket as soon as she walked in. "I'm not sure." she started to walk toward a machine, and placed the basket on the top, but as soon as she did that, she looked at me with this OH MY GOD expression, with the hit single I'M SO STUPID. She laughed, running out to the back of the car and grabbing her pile of dirty clothes that she had brought along with her.

I grinned as I stayed by the machine, intent to protect her spot. KT was right: this laundromat was uber crazy.

I was wasting time by glancing at the people inside the building when I suddenly felt something very familiar; I couldn't put my finger on it, but I could definitely smell it. It felt like home, something familiar, something old but new at the same time. Like the feeling you got when you walked in from shoveling snow on a cold December evening, and walking in to find the flame in the fireplace was burning out, so you walked toward it with another piece of firewood to set it ablaze again.

Maybe sniffing the lemon-scented detergent wasn't such a good idea, but it was then when I placed it; the smell of oatmeal cookies.

I whipped my head around to the area where KT had grabbed a basket only minutes before; and there, with a half-eaten oatmeal cookie in her mouth, was Nina.

/o~~~o/

My body froze. What were you supposed to do if you saw the mother of your only child, a seventeen-year-old high school student, walk inside the same place you were while the person you came with was out by your car, gathering her clothes to wash?

The Guide to Famous Celebrity Parents certainly didn't cover that.

I understood the familiar feeling; Nina loved oatmeal cookies. She said she could literally eat a whole pack of them in one sitting. Every time I went over her house to see Emma, or to just see Nina for herself, there was always the faint smell of oatmeal in the air, like she had it for breakfast, or a fresh batch of oatmeal cookies was cooling off on the counter.

A window was open on the other side of the building; it was chilly outside, as it always was in November in England, but the air outside suddenly become frightful. However, the fire wasn't delightful.

And, maybe on coincidence, maybe it was just in my head; Let it Snow started playing on the overhead speakers, replacing, of course, an Ed Sheeran song.

'Since we've no place to go' the male singer sang overhead on the speakers. I could relate to him at the moment; from the corner of my vision, I could see Nina, still with half the cookie in her mouth, shaking her head in disbelief. She was mouthing something to herself, and even though I couldn't read lips, I could hear it in my head what she was saying: "It's not even Thanksgiving, and they're playing Christmas songs?"

'Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!' "This world just keeps getting worse and worse," came a voice, shocking me out of my vegetative state. The person who I had originally came here with, Kara Tattiana, muttered as she placed her pile of dirty clothes in the basket I had saved for her. "It's only November 15th, and they're already playing Christmas songs? That's just not right. I mean, it's not even Thanksgiving! If they have to play it in November, at least wait until the twenty-ninth!"

"Yeah," I agreed, my voice nothing more than a whisper in a fear that Nina would somehow hear me, over all the other people that were in this laundromat.

As the finished the oatmeal cookie, liking the crumbs off of her fingers, realization hit me like a brick.

I didn't know if this was fate or karma kicking me in the ass, but somehow, we had wound up in the same place together, at the same time, on the same exact day Nina had come back to town. It was the first time I had seen her in person since October 30th; over the past two weeks, ironically, the only way we had communicated was by telephone.

Chloe kept reminding me over these past few days that, despite my new album's name, I was a heartbreaker. Jerome wanted to put me in Nina's shoes, and he had good reason; how would I feel, if the father of my baby, the person who constantly said that he'd never think of me as a mistake, finally called me that? How would I feel if I couldn't tell anyone who the father of my baby was, because he was a famous singer and no one would believe me? How would I feel, what if I was Nina?

What if I saw the father of my baby for the first time in over two weeks, only to see he came to the laundromat with another girl?

"What's wrong?" KT wondered, rubbing my arm in comfort. At her touch, I softened a bit. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I think I have. Me," I admitted, making KT chuckle. She asked me what was wrong; I told her off, but when she asked one more time, I took a deep breath and pointed to where Nina was standing, and didn't say a word.

Evidently, she didn't understand. Maybe, if I had told her about Nina in the past four days we had known each other, she probably would have understood. I stood in the shadows, watching Nina like she had done to me before she sent me the photograph. Is this what it was like to be the one and only Nina Anne Martin?

"Okay?" KT asked, confused. She grabbed a few dirty tops and pants and stuffed them into the empty hole, making me wonder how such a young woman could know how to do all this. I was nineteen, and my Mum still did the laundry in the house, between me and my four sisters.

"How do you do this?" I wondered, voicing my thoughts, as KT separated her 'whites' and 'colors'. "I don't understand. How do you do this?"

She laughed, and started to explain how to do laundry, and how she learned; I enjoyed watching her teach me, even though it was more of an attempt by myself to get my mind off the girl starting to do her own laundry by herself on the other side of the store. I stared in KT in amazement; how she knew so much amazed me. She was so much more intelligent than I thought at first.

I was only staring at her for a few seconds before KT dragged me away from the basket and into the empty ladies' restroom. This time, I was the one to be confused. I didn't see KT's face for a good few seconds before she turned around to face me, placing her hands on my shoulders.

"I realize this might not be the best time or way to tell you," she spoke in a whisper, making my observation sense click on high gear. I noticed that there were blood stains on the trash can in the corner, there was a steady drip from the faucet in the sink, and a faint sound was coming from the door. "I'm going to tell you anyway, though. Okay, here we go."

She turned away, as if pondering something. I was about to ask what she was thinking about when she looked me straight in the eye, blue on brown, and deadpanned, "Fabian, I'm pregnant."

"What?" was the first comprehensible word out of my mouth. It must have been a good minute or two before I said anything else; KT only had a guilty grin, while I paced the interior of the girls' bathroom, my mind screaming at me This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be happening.

"Well..." she paused, only for a second, but then got straight back up on her feet. "It is happening, Fabian," she responded, as if reading my thoughts; I supposed later that the reasonable explanation was that I was actually saying that out loud but didn't realize it.

"No. This can't be happening," I told her, a crazy look in my eye that I saw from the mirror. The reflection of a father of two children before he was twenty. "Not again. Not. Again."

"Not again?—" KT began to ask, but I cut her off.

"Okay..." I paced around the room, grabbing my hair, intending to pull it straight out of my head. "Okay. Think straight. KT, I promise I'll be there. Through everything! I promise! You'll never be alone. Ever. I'll always be there. The doctors visits, the, um...sonogram visits, um, the birth! Yes! The birth! I'll be there when you're giving birth! I promise."

"Fabian—"

"I can't believe it! Oh my God! I'm going to be a father again! I'm only nineteen! Do you realize what this is going to do to me?! I already have a daughter who's private life I've exposed to the entire world, and I wasn't even there when she was born! I was already a horrible parent, and now I'll be even worse! Jesus Christ." I finished, burying my head in my hands.

I heard a deep breath. Then the faucet being turned off. The sound on the other side of the door was louder.

"Fabian, it was a joke," was the first sentence spoken. KT's warm, comforting hands were on my shoulders still, and when I opened my eyes, her face was alight with joy. "I promise. I was never pregnant. And besides, even if I was, I wouldn't have known this early!" Seeing my terrified look, she waved her comment away and finished with, "But I. Am. Not. Pregnant."

"You swear?" I asked carefully, after seconds of pondering my answer. KT, looking guilty and happy at the same time, nodded her head slowly so I'd catch the message.

I inhaled slowly, taking in air for my lungs and exhaling one step at a time. The room was eerily quiet now that the drip from the faucet was gone and the mysterious sound at the door wasn't there anymore.

"I swear," KT laughed weakly, rubbing my arm again. For those short, few seconds, when I was in an JESUS FUCKING CHRIST I AM HAVING ANOTHER CHILD BEFORE I AM TWENTY panic, I was this close to crying. The panic was small and short-lived, but it was still there, residing in my chest like an anchor. I shouldn't have slept with KT in the first place.

"But," she continued, my terrified face making a reappearance. I hated that word, because it usually brought bad things just when you think you think you've struck gold. I wanted to concentrate on the laundromat outside the bathroom; of the hustle and bustle of the opening of detergent contains, the whirr of the machines, the monotonous music playing from the speakers. I wanted to go back in there, get this afternoon finished with, go home, and take a long nap to clear the headache that was oncoming.

"What was that you were saying, about you not wanting to be a father again?" KT wondered. My panic attack returned.

The faucet was still off. The blood stains were still there. The sound at the door was even louder than it was before.

"Um," I started weakly, scratching the back of my head, thinking of my answer in a way to not give off the impression that I was a complete dick. If I didn't word it correctly, I could come off as the villain in KT's head for as long as possible. I laughed, a weak attempt at humor, to get KT to laugh with me, but she didn't seem amused.

I said a million and one times back in August that I'd try to take responsibility, that I knew it was just as much as my fault as it was hers, and for a while, that's what I did. I took responsibility. I asked her how Emma was every single time we talked. In those four months, I became a father. I was no longer Fabian Rutter, that random kid who was basically Rebecca Black, just with talent.

"I think he means me," said a voice, suddenly appearing out of nowhere. I turned around, the sound at the door gone once again, and Nina standing right in front of the door, holding her hands behind her back.

"What?" KT wondered innocently, moving her gaze from Nina, to me, to Nina, to me, then back to Nina, and back to me, and that's where her gaze remained. "What does she mean, Fabian? Were you listening in on our conversation?" she panicked.

"Kind of," Nina smirked, making me want to cover my head and run out of the laundromat screaming. "What he means is that he is already a father. More specifically, the father of my baby."

KT was speechless, staring at me, who was standing in the corner in shame. "I don't believe you," she told Nina, crossing her arms over her chest. "You probably...just saw Fabian, because he's famous, and followed us into the bathroom. You...you've probably never even had sex before!"

At her comment, Nina was pokerfaced for only a moment; but then she regained her composure and guffawed, tilting her head back in laughter. Offended, KT turned around to face me with a disbelieving expression. I said or did nothing, just looked at her, trying to convey the message "I'm sorry".

"Then prove it!" KT exclaimed, fear showing through her tone.

"How can I prove it if my baby is at home?" Nina wondered, smiling like she had just won the lottery. The slap in the face from earlier came back, but this time, it was harder and harsher.

"Fabian!" KT yelled, turning around. "Tell this crazy person that she just wants attention. You were kidding when you said you couldn't be a father again, right?" she looked like she was about to cry, and I suddenly had a vision of September 2009; I could imagine Nina in the bathroom, holding a pregnancy test, her heart pounding in her chest as she waited for the result.

KT's dark brown eyes, filling with tears of realization — Nina's puke-green eyes, spilling over with tears as a small pink plus sign appeared on screen.

KT's hand, grabbing my arm as if clinging on to make sure she didn't fall into the pit of hell — Nina's hand, grabbing Eddie's arm, telling him that Fabian was the one, he was the father, but not even her best friend believed her.

"Tell me I didn't sleep with a father?" she pleaded, her voice, once loud, now growing softer.

"Sorry, KT," I apologized, not even daring to look her in the eyes. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have slept with you. And I shouldn't have slept with you, either, Nina, so don't get the wrong idea!" I sneered, glaring at the girl who had interrupted my private — maybe fearful, but private — moment with KT, whoever she was to me. She wasn't my girlfriend, but Nina wasn't my girlfriend, either.

"You slept with her?!" KT screamed. I rushed over to her, shushing her so she wouldn't attract attention; luckily enough for me, only KT was making noise, so the two girls weren't working together to call more attention to us.

"Yes," I answered. "Three years ago. It was a long time ago. I've been a father for two and a half years, I just hadn't known until August," I admitted, trying not to come off as a total dick, but KT's glare didn't prove to be any more accepting than it already was.

I wanted to convince the two people in the bathroom with me that nothing was ruined; I could still see KT, because I really liked her; I also needed to see Nina and Emma, too, because Emma was my daughter, and who the hell knew what Nina was to me anymore. Two weeks ago, she was the person I was in love with, and now...

"How old are you?" KT popped in with a question. I could tell she wanted to look over at Nina, who was standing at the door looking rather lonely, but she didn't let herself.

It was then that I realized I didn't know how old KT really was. "I'm nineteen," I answered, quite confused, but at my answer her eyes grew to the size of tennis balls and clawed my arm.

"Fabian, I'm sixteen," she told me. At her statement, I could've sworn the whole world collapsed. I did something illegal; me, a legal adult, slept with a minor, a poor sixteen-year-old girl. I could be arrested, thrown in prison, and the whole world would hate me for 1) Getting a girl pregnant at fifteen in 2009, 2) Sleeping with a minor and 3) Abandoning the mother of my child for a sixteen-year-old girl. Or at least thinking about it.

"This is not good," KT continued carefully. I would've done anything to slip away from KT's grasp, pretend she never existed, like I hadn't sat next to her at the parenting classes last week at all. I was doing what I wanted; repeating 2009 with better results. "This is illegal. Okay, you slept with me, but you can't sleep with me, because that's illegal. Right?!"

"Right!" I exclaimed, my panic face returning.

"Um, I'm just going to go around here and leave..." Nina murmured, the sound at the door returning as well. My panic face elongated as I ran away from the corner I was standing in and blocked the door, preventing Nina from leaving.

"You're not going anywhere," I told her, staring into her eyes, trying to convince her to stay here and talk me through this. Even after all the Confidence Lessons that Aaron had been giving me since 2010, I still had no idea what to do in social situations. Especially situations where I just figured out I was technically a criminal and the actual mother of my child was back in town and knew that I slept with another girl.

I just wanted her to stay here, for her to help me through this — Nina was my only light in a town surrounded by darkness — but I could've sworn, in her eyes, she was terrified, and that was the last thing I wanted.

"No—" I started, but didn't say anything else. I watched Nina turn away in fear; maybe fear that I would yell, or insult her, or — god forbid — hit her, but she turned away for only a moment before turning back around, carefully pushing me out of the way. And me, being such a pushover, let her.

The drip from the faucet returned. The blood remained on the trash can. Her footsteps echoed slowly out of the building. I opened my eyes, and KT was right there in front of me, just as she was two seconds ago, wearing an expression of disbelief, confusion, and betrayal straightaway on her face.

"Do you want to go out for frozen yogurt?" I asked carefully.

KT blinked, sighed, and turned away. She was just as confused as I was. But I knew what I did, despite it happening so suddenly, and maybe Amanda Sullivan was right; maybe I was a heartbreaker.

If I wasn't such a pushover, I could choose which person I wanted more. If I knew who I preferred to be around, I could either stay in here, or run outside and grab Nina's arm, forbidding her to go anywhere else, and this time I wouldn't scare her away and make sure she knew what I was saying, make sure she knew that I wasn't just stuttering like I usually did. I could choose, I could have one of them, instead of scaring them both away.

I watched as KT met my eyes, just as confused as I was.

The hustle and bustle of the laundromat grew louder as KT opened the door, saying she'd meet me at the frozen yogurt place later. Then the sounds of washing machines and angry people lowered, like someone turning the television on mute. I was alone in the girls' bathroom with no one, and at that moment, I turned on my heel, forgetting that KT was waiting for me somewhere around the laundromat, and ran into the building to find Nina.

/o~~~o/

A/N: So this chapter sucked. It did, it really didn't. The beginning was fine, it was the end that was kind of rough because I rushed it in about an hour, so I'm sorry. I just didn't want to wait another week, because I planned it all out and figured out that Lost & Found, if I don't miss another week, will end on January 31st, 2014.

Well, Nina and Fabian's relationship is just falling apart, isn't it? The next chapter is called "The Breakup", and the one after that is "The Holiday" (i.e. Christmas); this chapter is on November 15th, and Christmas is on December 25th, so what on Earth do you think could happen between that time in only a single chapter?

I really have nothing good to put here, so I guess I'll just shut up and let you panic about the next chapter. (Haha, if I didn't add 8 chapters, the next chapter would be "The Kiss", but instead it's "The Breakup" hahaha)

Have a nice weekend. Don't die! Love ya!
~Lia xx