A/N: So sorry about the wait guys! It makes me happy to see that people have been waiting to read the next chapter – well here it is! Enjoy and please review!

Chapter 21

1965. It was a big year. It was the year of Help! and Rubber Soul. It was the year of the famed Shea Stadium concert. It was the year the boys' drug use and experimentation accelerated. It was the year Ringo got married and had his first child. And now it was going to be the year Kylie and I had our babies. Who knew if we'd be here for the whole year? Any moment could be our last together. That's why we had to make it count.

Brian came to us with an announcement on the second day of the year after the boys' Christmas Show. It was going to change everything… for the better!
"Everyone, I have some news," he clasped his hands together as he stood at the head of the table.
"No, really?" Adam gasped sarcastically.
Brian had gathered us all in the dining room. Usually, if there wasn't a meal to be had, this meant that he had something important to tell us.
"I know we are all cramped here," Brian continued, ignoring Adam, "Which is why I have decided we should move."
"Move?" we all echoed.
"Yes, you heard me correctly. There are nine – soon to be eleven – of us living in a two-bedroom apartment. You cannot surely tell me you are comfortable living like this."
Murmurs of agreement sounded from around the table.
"I have already purchased the house. We will be moving in two weeks."
It was quick, but we were all grateful to be moving into a larger house.

The third of January marked Kylie's aging up day – you know the drill. She was turning seventeen. I thought back to my seventeenth birthday. I had three friends over to my house for a sleepover. We ate pizza and ice cream. We had a Twilight marathon of the first four movies in preparation for the fifth. I could not even imagine being pregnant back then. Kylie was certainly bitter about the fact that she was pregnant on her seventeenth birthday.
"It's not fair!" she whined, "I'm not going to be able to drink or party or have a good time on my birthday unlike you."
"Yeah, and look how my birthday turned out," I retorted, referring to the out-of-control party in which Ben and I ended up in Brian's bed.
"But at least you had fun."
"You don't need to drink to have fun."
I'll admit it; I was a bit of a grandma in my old life. I didn't go to parties or drink much or go out often. I much preferred to sit at home and watch movies or play games with my family. Clearly, Kylie was the opposite.

Across the room, Adam was listening to our conversation whilst reading the newspaper.
"Cheer up, Kyles," he interjected, "You still have me."
He slightly lowered the newspaper and flashed us an enthusiastic grin.
"I hope that doesn't mean what I think it does," I grimaced as I stood up to go and have a shower. Someone was still in the bathroom so I just waited outside the door for them to finish. I was taken aback when Ben yanked the door open. He looked equally as taken aback. He stepped out of the room and wordlessly held his arm out as if telling me to go in. Some interaction – this was progress.

I ended up throwing up whilst I was in the bathroom. Then, after my shower, I spent a little time examining myself in the mirror. I was shocked to see that, when I looked at myself side-on, there was a larger than expected bump to my abdomen. Doing some quick calculations in my head, I determined that I was now 16 or 17 weeks pregnant. I was in my second trimester! It was true, I had been too emotionally occupied to keep track. I knew now that I needed to keep track and become more excited about my pregnancy. I spent a considerable amount of time caressing my bump before dressing and leaving the bathroom.
"What's the matter, Soph?" Peter asked as I stepped into the dining room where everyone else was eating breakfast.
"I, uh, I have a bump," I responded in a tone mixed with surprise and gloom, furrowing my eyebrows.
Jenny pushed her chair out and came rushing over.
"What do you expect when you're pregnant?" she joked as she placed her hand on my tummy.
"It just seems so real now."
"Wow, you're quite large," she commented as she continued to feel around, "You've got to be over four months now!"
"Eh, I noticed your bump weeks ago," Kylie interjected with a nonchalant wave of her spoon. How could she notice and not me?
"How big is yours?" Jenny asked her.
"A little smaller than hers," Kylie shrugged.
"You're in your second trimester, girls! You know what that means?"
"What?" Kylie and I queried at the same time.
"No more nausea!"
"I've been fine the past few weeks anyway," Kylie commented.
Lucky her. My nausea had only just subsided. Even though I only vomited a handful of times, I had often felt nauseous. Today happened to be the first time I had vomited in a few weeks.
"Isn't her little bump just adorable?" Jenny continued to coon. At that point, Ben decided to leave the room. The others looked at me to see my reaction. I tried to hold back how hurt that small action made me, but it obviously showed on my face for Jenny rubbed my back whilst flashing me a sympathetic smile.

It really sunk in seeing the bump. Now I knew there was a baby there. I was pregnant, and I was having a baby. There were all those unfortunate ancillary factors too, but let's not go there again. The worst part of this phase of my pregnancy was the extreme urge to kiss Ben every time I saw him. Sometimes it got so bad I had to leave the room and go and calm myself down. I knew it was the hormones doing it, but it still angered me. Why did I feel this way after everything he's done (or hasn't done)? Why did I want to kiss him so badly? How come him leaving the room after becoming uncomfortable by baby talk made me both upset and turned me on at the same time? Fuck you, hormones.

Kylie

There are two sides to every story. For the Sophie and Ben story, the grey area in between is toxic and confusing. When one is completely heartbroken, distressed and angry and the other has not revealed anything, it's hard to know the truth. When your friends go through a rough time and are upset, you want to comfort them but at the same time give them their space. But when the whole household suffers due to their conflicts, enough is enough.

No one could have predicted how savage this would become. The rest of us in the household privately referred to ourselves as Switzerland – in the middle, and not taking sides. But when Sophie showed just how damaged she was, it was hard not to pick her side. Throwing a pregnancy in there just escalated the situation tenfold – that's when things changed for good. I still don't think Ben has come to terms with the fact that he might be a father. I was there when Sophie told him she was pregnant. He was happily chatting to her beforehand, as if nothing was amiss. Then he snapped. I had to get to the bottom of this. This, scarily enough, involved my uncle and my best friend.

I needed to hear Ben's side of the story. Sophie's side was dominant. I knew all about it from her point of view. I don't think Ben had talked to anyone about it. Well, he could talk to me. I was his niece after all, even if I wasn't born yet in his time. I convinced him to help me fold the laundry. Everyone chipped in around here, but usually the only thing Ben ever did was help cook meals or wash the dishes. Laundry was a foreign concept to him. As I watched him struggle to group socks together, I started laughing at him.

"What are you laughing at?" Ben demanded.
"The sight of you doing housework," I replied.
"Hey, I do housework!"
"But never laundry."
There were small woven baskets, one for each person, with nametags. We were sorting the clothes we were folding into each person's pile. Ben held up a pair of cotton hipster briefs.
"Are these yours?" he asked casually.
"God, no," I guffawed, "They're Sophie's. Those are mine."
I pointed to a pair of lacy knickers. I was, I guess you could say, more promiscuous with my underwear than Sophie was. I had, however, invested in some cotton briefs that were more comfortable during pregnancy.
"See the 'S'?" I demonstrated, pointing at the embroidered letter near the waistline, "That's how we tell our stuff apart."
"Oh," Ben responded in an airy voice, lightly folding Sophie's knickers.
"Surely you know what Sophie's undies look like," I teased, causing him to massively blush. It was only too easy to embarrass him, and I found enjoyment in it after what he did to Sophie. Best friends before uncles, I guess. I just laughed at how red his face was getting, which made it go even redder.

"Why are you laughing at me?" he quietly whined.
"You're so easy to wind up," I responded.
"By bringing up Sophie?" he retorted.
"It's just a bit of fun…"
"No, it isn't. I feel awful about it. And you guys constantly harping on about what a bad guy I am makes me feel even worse."
Wow. I did not expect this outburst. I didn't expect him to feel that way about it. My goal was to get to the bottom of the situation, and I think it was working.
"You feel bad?" I probed.
"Of course I do," he snapped, "It's been painful for me to see how much I've hurt Sophie."
"Well, Ben, if you feel so bad about it, why not try making up with Sophie?" I asked softly.
"Oh, no, I can't do that," he declined in a shaky voice, folding the last t-shirt and placing it in Jack's basket.
"Why not? It would mean the world to her. That's all she's been waiting for."
"I can't, Kylie. I can't face her."
"Again, why not?"
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and turned to me to deliver a surprising line.
"Because I think I'm in love with her."

Ben ran out after making that stunning revelation… quite literally. I ran after him, following him through the apartment.
"Ben! Wait!" I called.
I ran through the living are where Adam, Sophie, Jack and Brian looked at us confusedly, wondering what was going on.
"You can't tell me that and then run away!" I continued.
He went out the front door and sprinted down the stairs. It was an enormous effort for me to keep up with him. He made his way out of the apartment building and onto the footpath. Quickly glancing left and right, he ran across the road to the park.
"Benjamin Michael Ross!" I called, "I'm pregnant and I cannot run any further!"
He stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at me. I quickly made my way across the street to him. It was the middle of winter and I hadn't grabbed a jacket on my way out – I was a little cold.
"Why did you run?" I asked him.
"I didn't want you to ask me any more questions," he said.
"Well, bad luck," I said, grabbing his arm and guiding him to the park bench.

"Spill the beans," I ordered in a friend tone once we sat down.
"No," he objected.
"Come on, Ben. You've just told me that you're in love with my best friend."
"I said I think I'm in love with her."
"Is there a difference? Still, I don't understand. If you love her, why won't you talk to her? Why have you been ignoring her?"
"I'm getting better."
"Yes, you inviting yourself along to follow Jenny was much better," I agreed sarcastically, "Answer my question, please."
"I don't really know the answer. I was ashamed at first. I didn't remember that night… but she did. I didn't know what I had done in front of her, which was embarrassing."
"She was your girlfriend."
"Still, we were new. I didn't want her to judge me. Then I was giving her a chance to forget about it by keeping my distance. But I guess I kept it for too long, because now she hates me."
"Uh, far from it actually. She's just angry with you."
"And that's why I can't make up with her. It's too late. She hates me already. I'll probably make things worse. I don't want to hurt her even more by pretending it never happened."

I sighed, further trying to get him to see sense.
"Trust me, you need to talk to her. Let her know that you're sorry and you still have feelings for her. She doesn't think you care at all," I continued.
"Oh but she does," he cryptically refuted.
"Huh? You've got to reach out to her!"
"Oh, but I have."
"What are you talking about?"
"I've told her how much I care."
"When, precisely?"
"I may have written her a note…"
"Oh my god, no wonder she's so confused! You've fucked up big time, Ben."
"See why I can't make up with her? I've just embarrassed myself further by giving her that note."
"You've been extremely selfish in all this. She needs you."
I let that sink in. There was another topic yet to be discussed with him. While I was at it, I decided to probe him about that too.

"How are you feeling about the baby?" I asked.
He shook his head and laughed slightly before putting his face in his hands.
"It still doesn't seem real," he said, "I can't accept that there's a baby growing in her. Or you, for that matter."
"It might be yours."
"I know. That's why it's so scary. I don't remember its conception… I'm just going to deny it until there's evidence."
"Apparently fatherhood's been on your mind though."
"Right, have you been talking to Sophie or Paul?"
Truth was, Sophie had told me about his little slip up whilst they were spying on Jenny. He could deny it all he liked, but I knew that he would come to terms with it. Even though he never had kids in the future, in my time, he was always a great uncle.
"What will you do if it is yours? You're not going to keep ignoring Sophie, are you, and not helping out?"
"It might be John's," he mused, "That bastard."
Or George's, I added in my head.
"You've got to let her know how you feel," I pressed, "About everything."
"I'm not ready, Kylie."

I just nodded. He wasn't ready, but he'd do it someday. That someday may be too late. Maybe I could convince Sophie to keep her faith in him a little longer. He stood up and offered his hand to me to help me up. We then walked back across the street to the apartment building. Looking up at the door to our small balcony, I could see Sophie watching us from behind the curtain.