Julie was surprised to find Allie at Fulton's the next morning. Her surprise grew further when she learned that Allie had actually spent the night there. She'd previously warned Fulton as his friend to be careful and she was now worried, she didn't want to see either of them get hurt.

"You disappeared early last night" Julie commented to Allie as she sat playing with a piece of toast.

"Yeah I wasn't in the mood" Allie replied not looking up.

"How are you?" Julie asked softly. She was taking note that Allie wasn't actually eating anything.

"Fine I guess" Allie replied.

"You wanna talk?" Julie offered.

Allie didn't answer.

"Can you keep a secret?" Allie finally spoke.

"Of course I can" Julie responded wondering briefly if something had happened between Allie and Fulton the previous night.

"I'm pregnant and Kate Portman is going to have a fit when she finds out" Allie told her.

"Wow" Julie breathed.

"I know" Allie countered.

"How far are you?" Julie asked curious.

"Six weeks, you know I hadn't even noticed anything was up. I just put it all down to stress from graduating and Kate and everything else in between" Allie explained. It was all still new and confusing for her.

"Have you told your dad?" Julie asked.

"Nope. What do you say to your father, I don't think "hey dad, guess what I'm 18 and pregnant to my dead boyfriend" is going to cut it" Allie pushed her plate away.

"Does Fulton know?" Julie asked.

"Yeah"

"Oh"

"What does 'oh' mean?" Allie asked suspiciously.

"Nothing"

"Whatever, I'm going home, tell Fulton I said see ya" Allie stood up and put her plate in the Reed's sink before gathering her stuff and leaving.

Julie was still sitting at the table staring open mouthed at the door when Fulton entered the room in a pair of old shorts and a t-shirt, his hair was still wet from the shower.

"Hey Jules, where's Allie?" Fulton asked realising that Julie was the only one in the kitchen.

"She went home, she said to say 'see ya' though" Julie told him.

"Is she okay?" Fulton sat down.

"You knew she was pregnant and you didn't say anything?" Julie glared at him, her blue eyes accusing.

"Not my place to say Jules, besides she only told me last night" Fulton argued.

"Did Dean know?" Julie asked carefully.

"No Allie didn't find out herself until the day before yesterday" Fulton replied sadly.

"So its his" Julie blurted out without thinking. She immediately regretted it.

"Of course its his Julie, who's else would it be?" Fulton exploded.

"Fult, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it the way it came out"

"Oh I think you did Julie. You know for someone who calls herself a friend you have an odd way of showing it" Fulton was getting madder by the second.

"Fult I..." she began but was cut off

"I know what you're going to say and you know what, I AM being careful. Is it so wrong for me to want to be near her? I mean she's carrying the only piece of Portman we have left!" Fulton yelled before it become too much and he stormed out of the house in the same manner as Allie had earlier.

And once more Julie was staring at the door with her mouth wide open.

How the hell did I just manage to offend two of my best friends? She wondered.

"Hey, here you are!" Hayley grinned when she saw Allie enter her bedroom.

"I hope you're not gonna start on me about spending too much time with Fulton too" Allie snapped.

"Whoah, wait a second! Why would I give you a hard time about that?" Hayley looked up at her best friend all confused.

"Sorry, I think I just had a fight with Julie. She was looking at me all weird like when she saw me at Fulton's this morning" Allie apologised as she sat down on the floor of Hayley's bedroom.

"Bah, who cares, you two obviously need each other right now. You know the Ducks are all about the drama sometimes" Hayley flopped down on the floor beside her friend.

"Thanks Hayls" Allie accepted the huge her friend offered her.

"So whats going on then?" Hayley asked.

"I'm pregnant" Allie said bluntly.

"Are you serious?" Hayley stared at her friend.

"Deadly serious, no pun intended" Allie replied stony faced.

"Is this a 'yay I'm gonna have a cute little Portman baby' or a 'what the fuck am I supposed to do with a kid?' kind of situation" Hayley asked wondering what kind of advice she'll have to give.

"It was the 'holy shit I'm pregnant' one but Fulton's made me see that this is a good thing" Allie confessed.

"Fulton?" Hayley asked momentarily forgetting what Fulton had to do with anything.

"Yeah I told him last night" Allie said wondering if she was about to have the same argument with Hayley and she'd had with Julie.

"What did he say?" Hayley asked wanting to know what advice Fulton would give to a girl about something like this.

"He told me it was like a last gift from Dean and that I should see it as a positive rather than a negative" Allie sighed with relief. She should have known that Hayley wasn't about to judge her for spending so much time with her dead boyfriend's best friend. There was a reason Hayley was Allie's best friend after all.

"Fulton Reed actually said that. I'm impressed!" Hayley grinned.

"Don't you dare give him hell about it" Allie warned.

"Who me?" Hayley put on her best 'I'm innocent' face.

"Yes you!" Allie laughed.

"Yes I got a laugh!" Hayley cried dramatically.

"Thanks Hayls, I forgot how good it felt to laugh" Allie replied.

"So do you think it's a boy or a girl?" Hayley changed the subject.

"I dunno, as long as its healthy and happy I don't care" Allie had decided she was going to keep the baby.

"My advice, keep it as far away from Kate Portman as possible" Hayley warned with an evil smile.

"I was planning on it. I'm still going to Boston" Allie announced.

"Are you sure? I mean you'll be all by yourself" Hayley wondered whether she could switch colleges and help look after her friend.

"Yeah I'll be fine plus Fulton's moving in too remember?" Allie replied.

"Okay as long as you're sure" Hayley knew that once her friend had made up her mind there was little she could do to change it.

"I'm sure, I'm going to Boston, finishing my degree and I'm gonna raise my baby all in one" Allie replied hoping it would as drama free as it sounded.

"Good for you" Hayley gave her friend a supportive hug.

A few days later the entire group were gathered at Allie's house for one last pool party & BBQ before everyone went their separate ways.

"I vote Averman lays off the booze" Russ declared earning a cackle from Goldberg.

"Hey!" Averman woke up to what was being said.

"Averman" Connie warned.

"Fine I'll lay off the hard stuff but I can't promise anything about the sugar" Averman retorted making the group laugh.

"I'm gonna miss your corny jokes Aves" Goldberg told him.

"Hey no mushy stuff Goldie!" Averman pretended to be scared.

"I'm not mushy" Goldberg practically yelled.

"Its okay Goldie I'll miss your jokes too Averman" Allie spoke.

"Me too" Hayley took her cue and the two girls gave Goldberg a big hug.

"Hey I thought it was me you were going to be missing" Averman complained wondering why he wasn't getting the female attention.

"Awww is someone jealous?" Hayley grinned before pouncing on Averman.

Allie didn't follow suit. Instead she stayed glued to her spot looking slightly green.

"Allie are you okay?" Connie looked at the blond girl who suddenly looked like she was going to throw up.

"Um" Allie wasn't sure how to respond. She saw the worried glances Hayley, Julie and Fulton were giving each other but she couldn't worry about that. She turned on her heel and ran towards the nearest bathroom.

"Is she okay?" Charlie asked concerned.

"Um kinda, I'll let her tell you though" Fulton replied carefully.

"Why can't you tell us now?" Charlie protested.

"Charlie!" Linda warned "If Fulton wants Allie to tell us then Allie's gonna tell us okay?" she had the knack for making her boyfriend back down.

"Okay" Charlie pouted but didn't complain any more.

"Sorry guys I'm fine" Allie returned to the BBQ area.

"Are you sure? I mean you had us all worried there for a minute" Connie spoke.

Hayley couldn't help but smirk at Connie's newfound friendliness. A few weeks ago the girl was making life hell for Allie and Portman.

Allie took a deep breath and looked to Fulton for support.

This was it she decided.

"I have to tell you guys something" Allie began wondering if she was going to be yelled at or what.

"Tell away" Goldberg encouraged her.

"Okay so I'm pregnant with Dean's baby" Allie blurted out.

Eleven shocked faces stared back at her and three knowing faces stared at the crowd.

"Wow" Adam was the first to speak.

"Another Portman" Averman was mainly talking to himself.

"Congratulations" Linda was happy.

"Wow the first baby Duck" Charlie was always thinking of the Ducks.

"Yeah baby quack" Goldberg added.

"Argh we can get little jerseys made for it" Connie was excited also.

"See nothing to worry about!" Fulton stood behind Allie and placed his hands on her shoulders, giving them a slight squeeze.

"And mini hockey sticks" the conversation kept going.

"Can you buy mini pucks?"

"Dunno"

"What about a little helmet?"

"What for? The baby won't be able to skate!"

"It might"

"Averman, no it won't"

"Have you thought of any names yet?" Connie and Linda had ditched the Ducks conversation and had now cornered Allie.

"Nah not yet. I don't even know what it is" Allie smiled.

The girls then rattled on about good baby names for both boys and girls. Until the boys started pointing out how dumb some of them sounded and it provoked a full-blown debate that lasted for what felt like hours, even days.

"I dunno about you guys but I'm starving!" Hayley cut the debate off mid-way though a sentence from Charlie about how the baby should incorporate all thirteen names of the Ducks.

I am so not calling my baby Charlie-Adam-Ken-Dwayne-Lester-Russ-Guy-Fulton-Julie-Connie-Luis-Greg-Dean Linda-Hayley Taylor-Portman. Allie thought wondering if they even made Birth Certificates big enough to fit that on.

"Yeah me too!" came the cries of several Ducks who realised the food had just been brought out for them.

"Thank God for Hayley" Fulton whispered making Allie smile.

"I'm gonna miss having her around when we move" Allie confessed suddenly feeling overcome by sadness.

Stupid pregnancy hormones she thought.

"As weird as it sounds, I'm gonna miss her too" Fulton admitted. He still found it a little odd that he could be such great friends with Hayley after the nasty break up they'd endured early in their Sophomore year.

"Guys you'd better hurry or there'll be no food left" Hayley yelled over to Allie and Fulton.

"I'm so not gonna miss that voice though" Fulton laughed offering his hand to Allie.

"I will" Allie replied feeling the tears stinging at her eyes.

Don't cry now dammit she scolded herself.

After food and more alcohol the group decided to play a half assed game of 'hockey' on the grass using tree branches from the firewood pile as hockey sticks and a plastic bottle as the puck.

Allie and Hayley sat on the sidelines watching the rest of the group play.

After the game the party eventually wound down leaving Allie, Fulton, Julie and Hayley as the remaining four.

"You'd better get some sleep if you're gonna be driving tomorrow" Julie warned Fulton.

"Yes mom" Fulton laughed.

Hayley and Allie just grinned.

"She's right, I don't want you all tired tomorrow" Allie told him.

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow" Fulton gave Allie a quick hug.

"And as for you two, I'll see you next whenever we have a Ducks and Cheerleaders reunion" Fulton joked holding his arms out for Julie and Hayley to give him a hug.

Allie whipped her phone out of her pocket just in time to use its camera to snap Fulton being surprised by Hayley and Julie kissing his cheeks at the same time.

Her phone's memory was almost full as was the memory card in her digital camera. She'd have to upload the photos to her computer once she got settled in Boston.

After saying goodbye to Julie the two remaining girls headed up to Allie's room where they had one last 'sleepover'.

"I can't believe this is it" Hayley was almost in tears.

"It's not 'it', you can come sleep over at my place in Boston anytime you like" Allie told her friend.

"I know but it won't be the same, its like we're turning our backs on our childhood. It feels so damn weird" Hayley replied.

"I know" Allie understood what she meant.

"And this time next year you'll be a mom and have this gorgeous supermodel baby and I'd better be its favourite 'aunt'" Hayley was rambling.

"Hayley are you kidding? I want you to be its Godmother" Allie told her.

Hayley gasped in shock, "Really?" she squealed.

"Of course really" Allie told her and braced herself for what she knew was going to come next.

"Awesome!" Hayley screamed leaping up from her bed and practically jumping straight onto Allie's, crash tackling her into the mattress.

"Sorry!" Hayley realised that she probably shouldn't have done that.

"Its okay, I'm not made out of glass you know" Allie laughed.

"I know" Hayley replied with a cheesy grin.

"Night Allie" Hayley clambered back into her bed.

"Argh I'm gonna cry" Hayley said as she handed Allie the last of her stuff, including the giant polar bear "Gretzky" that Portman had given to her.

"Where the hell are you going to put that thing?" Goldberg's head popped around the side of the house.

"Yeah" the rest of the Ducks emerged carrying a big banner that read "Good Luck in Boston"

"Hey guys" Allie was strangely reminded of the time she was forced to leave Eden Hall and was surprised by the crowd that formed to send her off.

At least I had Portman with me then she thought sadly remembering that it was also the first time he'd told her he loved her.

"We brought presents!" Averman announced as the Ducks bombarded Fulton and Allie with wrapped gifts.

"Goldie what the hell is this?" Allie asked as he handed her an unusual shaped object.

She unwrapped it to find a jar of pickles.

"I heard pregnant women love pickles" Goldberg replied innocently.

"And chocolate" Averman gave his present to her. Allie wasn't surprised to find it contained a motherload of chocolate.

"Thanks guys" Allie said giving them a hug.

The gifts flooded in.

Connie and Adam had bought a Baby Names book.

Ken, Luis and Dwayne had given her a tiny Ducks hockey jersey with Portman and the number 21 on the back.

Charlie, Guy and Russ had given her Mighty Ducks baby booties and a matching beanie.

But Julie, Hayley and Linda had given her the most special gift of all.

It was a gold locket with one side showing a picture of Portman smiling and the other side was blank with Hayley's handwritten words "INSERT BABY HERE"

"Guys this is beautiful" Allie cried letting the tears fall down as she hugged her friends.

Julie held Allie's hair up as Linda fastened it around her neck.

"GROUP HUG!" Goldberg yelled.

The group hugged one last time before Allie and Fulton had to get going.

Allie said goodbye to her father before getting into Fulton's truck.

"If you ever want to come home give me a call and I'll come get you in an instant" Mr Taylor hugged his only daughter.

"I will daddy" Allie told him giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Fulton started up the truck and Allie waved at their friends until they became a tiny speck in the distance.

They were finally on their way.