this took so long and i'm really not too happy with it but it's cool y'all. enjoy :)

At first Maya's not sure if she's heard him right. "What?" she asks, looking at him.

"I said, 'I love you,'" Lucas reiterates, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Like, I really, really love you."

Her response: "Holy shit, Lucas! It took you long enough!"

"What?" he asks, confused. "Wait, did you know? How did you know?"

Maya laughs, "Yeah, I knew. Remember how you got completely wasted on Halloween?"

"Oh, God," he says, making the realization, "I told you?"

"Yeah, Huckleberry, you told me."

Lucas blushes (and Maya thinks it's the cutest thing), burying his face into her neck. "That's really embarrassing," he mumbles against her.

"No, it's not," she tells him. "But, I love you, too."

The words leave her mouth effortlessly; it's like they've been on the tip of her tongue forever. As she says it, she feels like a giant weight has been lifted off her shoulders. I love him, I love him, I love him, she thinks. And he loves me.

Lucas responds with a kiss, pressing his lips to hers. Maya leans into it, running her hands along the hard planes of his chest. He tastes like his favorite gum mixed with chapstick–a taste she can't get enough of. His hands trail to the edge of her shirt, teasing the skin there.

They break the kiss for a moment, breathing heavily. "Take this off," she mumbles, tugging at his shirt.

"Heard," he says, pulling it off.

Maya immediately starts kissing his jawline, trailing down his neck and to his chest. (She's careful not to leave hickeys. At least, she is now. Last time she left one, Heather Friar saw it and was not a happy camper.)

Lucas lets out a low moan as she continues lower. She's working at the button of his jeans when their fun is cut short at the sound of the front door slamming.

"Maya? Are you here?" Katy Hunter calls throughout the apartment.

The couple frantically sits up, trying to make themselves look presentable. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," she curses beneath her breath as she tosses Lucas his shirt. She sits back, looking too casual for it not to be suspicious. "We're in my room!"

Her mom opens the door, looking relieved. "You scared me, baby girl. The school called me and said you went to the doctor. What happened?"

Maya takes a deep breath, and relays the whole story. She gives every detail–from the fall to the doctor's visit. After she finishes, Katy looks scared to death.

"Oh, sweetie," she says, sitting on the edge of the bed and throwing her arms around her daughter, "I'm so glad that everything's alright. I'm sure you two were scared to death!"

Nodding, she agrees, "I was so sure I lost her. I thought that I killed my baby."

Katy frowns. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that, baby girl," she says, squeezing her hand. "I'm sorry to you, too, Lucas. There's no scarier moment than thinking something's happened to your child."

"It was pretty terrifying," Lucas responds, "But, she's perfectly fine.

"God must've been watching out for little Ruby," the woman says.

"He was," he concurs. At this moment, Maya lets out a huge yawn, causing the boy to question: "You tired?"

"Little bit," she lies, then she yawns again. "Okay, maybe I'm really tired. It's been a long day, and it's not even three yet."

Katy smiles sweetly, "You should take a nap, darling. I'll be around if you need me."

"I should be heading out, too," Lucas tells her, pecking her cheek. "I have to work soon."

"I'm fine," Maya says, teasingly pushing him out of the bed to give herself more space. She rests her head on a pillow, sighing contently. "Call me when you get off."

"Will do."

Before she heads out of the room, Katy says, "Um, by the way, Lucas…"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Your shirt is inside out."

His face turns into the deepest shade of red Maya's ever seen.

"Oh, God," he says, looking at his chest. It's even backwards.

"Now I know you all are, well, active, considering Maya's eight months pregnant–"

"Mom!"

"–But that doesn't mean you all can just have sex in the middle of the day!"

"Oh my God, Mom! We weren't having sex!" Maya retorts.

"Well, you were obviously doing something."

Now it's her turn to blush.

After she naps for a bit, Maya gets up and finds herself bored. It's been quite the day, but it feels like it's been an eternity since everything happened. Just a few hours ago, they were at the doctor's office finding out whether or not their daughter died.

Now Maya rubs a hand on her stomach and feels her baby kick. She smiles, cooing, "Hi, peanut."

Everything is fine. Ruby is alive, Lucas loves her, and she loves him. It's almost perfect.

Except Maya is bored. Like, she has to do something so that she doesn't go crazy. She stands up, looking around her room. It's filled with a combination of both art and baby supplies. Mostly baby. Just an overall mess.

"Mom!" she calls, picking up a box of paint from her desk. "Come here!"

The woman comes in, "Whatcha need, baby girl?"

"Can you help me with this?"

"This?"

Maya gestures to the room, "This."

"You want me to clean your room?" she quizzes, confused.

The younger blonde sighs, "No, I need you to help me. I'm so big I can barely bend down, and I can't bring a baby home to this mess. What if I go into labor tomorrow?!" Katy tries to cover her chuckle, but fails. "Mom! It's not funny!"

"I'm sorry, sweetie," her mother says, wrapping her in a hug, "But, you just look so cute!"

She frowns, "Cute? I'm the size of a whale, I haven't seen my toes in months, and my feet are always swollen–how is that cute?"

"Oh, you think you're the size of a whale? Have you ever seen pictures of me when I was pregnant with you?" she asks, rubbing Maya's stomach. "I was huge."

"I don't think I have," she answers. "Do you have any pictures here?"

Katy pauses, thinking. Then she gets an excited look on her face. "I do! Come with me," she says, dragging her daughter by the hand.

"But what about my room?"

"It can wait. You aren't going to go into labor tomorrow, you've still got a few weeks," she states.

Maya follows her, speaking, "You better not jinx me."

She lets out a light laugh, making her sit down on the couch while she goes to her room to look for something in her closet. A minute or so later, she lets out a triumphant "Aha!" and returns to the living room, bringing a photo album with her. She takes a sit next to her daughter. "These are going to be so embarrassing."

"I bet you're right," she jokes back.

Katy opens up the album, pointing to one of the first pictures, "Oh no."

"And I thought I was big!"

It's a picture of young, pregnant Katy smiling in front of a Christmas tree. The date in the corner puts it as about a month before Maya was born. The version of her mother in the photo is definitely bigger than she is now.

"I told you I was!" she chuckles, turning the page.

"How much did I weigh again?" Maya asks, looking at all the pictures.

The quick response is: "Six pounds even. You were a tiny little thing."

"Why were you so big?" she quizzes, "I don't have a secret twin that was taking up room in there, do I?"

She snorts, "I ate a lot of pizza while I was pregnant. It was the only thing that I wanted. And no, you do not have a secret twin."

Maya smiles at her. "That's kinda how I am with pasta. I could eat it all the time," she remarks. She turns the page, getting to baby pictures of herself. "Aww, I was so cute."

"I think so, too," her mother agrees. Then, she turns the page to see a family picture from the hospital, and both their faces fall at the sight of Kermit. "That used to be my favorite picture. I can't remember the last time I saw this…"

Maya suddenly says, "What do you think he'd say?"

Katy frowns, "What?"

"About me being pregnant. What do you think he'd say? Do you think he'd be disappointed? Or mad?" she explains.

"I don't know," the woman responds. "He wouldn't have the right to be mad. We were the same age when we had you."

"Do you think I should try to contact him again?" she asks her mother. "Should I tell him that I'm pregnant?"

"Does he deserve to know?"

Katy's response makes her think. Does he deserve to know? she muses. He left them. She grew up without a father because of him. Why should he get to know about her daughter? If he wanted to know about Maya's life, he should have stayed.

"No," she makes up her mind. "He doesn't deserve to know."

The older blonde kisses the younger one's cheek. "Good answer."

"Besides," she starts, "Ruby is going to have the best grandma and grandpa in the whole universe."

"You've got that right," Katy concurs. "Oh! I forgot to tell you that Shawn and I don't want to be called grandma and grandpa. It makes us sound old. We're not old."

Maya rolls her eyes, "Then what do you want to be called?"

"We decided that Nana and Papa sound the youngest."

"That still makes you sound old, you know," she responds, attempting to cover her smile.

"Don't remind me," Katy says solemnly.

"It's okay, Mom," she says, "you're still the youngest Nana that I know."

The two continue looking through the album. Each page has something that makes them smile, giggle, even cry (Maya's hormones are still all over the place.). But it's seeing Kermit in all the pictures that really gets to her. He looked so happy. There was always a smile on his face that couldn't have been faked.

Then she gets scared. If her father can go from looking so happy to be with his family to leaving them, couldn't Lucas? The thought is terrifying to Maya.

"Mom," she says after finishing the album.

Katy makes a content "Hmm?" sound.

"What if Lucas leaves Ruby and I–just like Dad left us?" she asks, tears welling in her eyes.

"Oh, baby," her mother starts, tossing the album aside to grab her daughter in her arms. "Lucas isn't going to leave. He's not your father."

"But you didn't think he was going to leave until he did!" she sobs, resting her head against Katy's chest.

"You're not wrong, but I've never seen a boy look at a girl like Lucas looks at you," she explains. "You and Ruby are his world. The most important thing in his life. And you wanna know what I think?"

"What?"

"I think that you two will get married one day."

"Wait–what? Really?"

"Yep," she hums, petting Maya's hair. "You're definitely going to marry him."

The pregnant girl lets out an uncomfortable laugh, "We've been dating for four months. How can you already think that?"

"Honestly, I've thought y'all would end up together for years," she admits. A look from the teenager causes her to explain: "I just knew. Mother's intuition, I guess. What I didn't think was that you'd get pregnant before you two got together…"

"Sorry…" Maya apologizes, "It wasn't planned."

"It better not have been planned! You're seventeen!" Katy laughs. "But that's beside the point. I'm really proud of you both. You're handling it very well."

"You think so?" she responds, no longer crying. Her hair is still being touched, and it's helping calm her down immensely.

"Definitely. You and Lucas will be wonderful parents," she assures.

Maya hugs her mother, squeezing at tightly as she can. "Thank you, Mom. I don't know what I'd do without you."

She kisses her cheek, then says, "You're welcome, baby girl. I love you."

"And I love you," she adds, extremely grateful to have such a wonderful mother.