Hey everyone!

So, this is a little shorter and took me a little longer to post it but I hope it's worth it. The next chapter is more intense so stay tuned for that :)

Whatever. It. Takes.

~JuliaGoldsworthy

"You were cold as the blood through your bones
And the light which led us from our chosen homes
Well I was lost

And now I sleep
Sleep the hours and that I can't weep
When all I knew was steeped in blackened holes
I was lost"

-Below My Feet.

-Mumford and Sons.

The next few weeks seemed to be crazy for everyone but me. Alli and Adam were both super busy studying for finals. I'd asked Jake to do something with me but apparently he was a part of some gardening club that had late meetings almost every night. I would've just spent time with Eli but he was working as usual.

I decided to go to the Dot. It was the day before Thanksgiving so not many people were out this late. Just a few lonely stragglers.

I'd ordered tea and a muffin and took a seat at a table near the front window.

I opened a notebook I'd brought with me and was going to cop some Physics notes that I'd missed a few days ago.

I barely had the first few lines down when I heard a group of girls come in. They were laughing and having a good time and I didn't pay much attention to them except they were sort of loud.

The waiter came and delivered my order and I quickly thanked him.

I heard whispering from in front of me and I couldn't help but listen in.

"How does she even show her face anywhere?" one of the girls had said.

I decided to ignore them and focus on my notes. I'd brought my iPod with me so if nothing else I could just listen to music.

"I don't know. I know I couldn't. Then again, I couldn't have done what she did with him either. Not before marriage anyways."

I was growing suspicious of who this group of girls was. It didn't sound like a typical girl group.

"Well, people like her don't have any respect for themselves. They'll go anywhere, do anything. They don't have any shame." an annoying voice explained.

I closed my eyes and prayed that I had imagined it. That I was paranoid. Of course, though, I wasn't.

I opened my eyes and looked straight a head of me at the booth the was in the corner opposite me.

Becky Baker and two Jesus Club groupies sat with coffee in their hands.

Usually, if people stare at me and I catch them, they look away, embarrassed. Becky, though, just stared on. I'm pretty sure she even winked.

I knew I couldn't say anything to her, even though I'd heard what she said. I didn't need it right now and the best thing for me and the baby was just to go home.

I packed my notebooks and pens away in my bag with my muffin. I also grabbed my tea before heading out the door.

I tried to get the thought of Becky out of my head as I walked away. I hadn't made it far before I heard the bell above the Dot's door ding again.

"Hey!" I heard her call from behind me. "Hey Clare!"

I picked up the pace and tried to turn invisible.

I'd been thinking about what Dawes said when I spoke to her. What if Becky's threats weren't just petty? What if they could do real harm if she carried through with them? That's not something I wanted to find out.

I turned down an alley to try to get away from them. It was better to look like a coward and avoid an altercation right now than to stick it out. Maybe if I was closer to my car I would turn around and say something to her, if I had a quick escape route at all. However, I had parked farther down the street at a book store earlier and was almost a half block away from my parking spot.

"Get back here!" I heard behind me, a shrill voice piercing the air again.

"Leave me alone, Becky." I said, finally.

She pushed my shoulder back so I hit the wall behind me. The air was knocked out of my lungs. "What did you say?"

"Becky just let me be." I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking. "I'm not worth your time and you're not worth mine so how about you just drop this whole issue you have with me?"

"Because that would be wrong Clare. I'm trying to make you remember who you were. God loved you Clare."

"God will love me no matter what Becky. He forgives."

Her hand was around my throat and I couldn't breathe. "Well I don't know how he could forgive someone like you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I spoke through my teeth.

"God doesn't forgive whores."she yelled. Her hand left my throat to slap the tea out of my hand. It splattered to the ground.

I looked around and saw that her two friends were on either side of me. The street at the end of the alley looked pretty empty and the other side were encased by buildings.

"What are you even trying to do, Becky?" I asked. "Embarrass me? Make me pay for my sins? Make me admit that everything was a mistake? Fine. I'm embarrassed. I'll pay for my sins one day. But I'll be Goddamned if I'll ever call this child a mistake."

"Don't say his name like that." she hurled her coffee cup at me and the hot liquid covered my face, causing me the cry out in pain.

I could feel the boiling drops burning into my skin. Leaving scars as they burned their way through my face.

"And as if it wasn't bad enough you did what you did before marriage, you did it with Eli."

I was trying to pat my face to soak up the coffee. "What is that supposed to mean."

"He's not even Christian. He's not one of God's children."

"Just because you're a Christian, doesn't mean you're a good person." I scoffed. "Look at you."

She glared at me for a few moments and the air was so silent it hurt.

Finally, she pulled her arm back and aimed for my face. I put my arms up to block the impact but her friends pulled them away. My back was against the wall and I couldn't move.

Becky's fist hit the middle of my nose and I heard a crack. The pain was instant.

I pulled a hand free and touched the end of it. My fingers were covered in blood.

"Becky, why are you doing this? Why do you even care?"

"Its my job to care. God wants me to care."

I shook my head before her hand smacked my face. My cheek stung and I felt a little dizzy.

"That one was just for me though." she giggled.

Her friends forced me to the ground. My knees dug into the rocks that were on the pavement. Once I was down my face was on the concrete.

She put her shoe on my face and pressed my cheek bones into the gravel. I groaned as I tried to struggle away from her. The more I tried, the worse the pain was.

"You deserve this Clare. Remember that."

"No I don't." I cried.

"Keep telling yourself that." she took her foot off my cheek and took a few steps backwards.

I knew my knees wouldn't be enough to protect my belly from her kicks. I looked around for something that would shield me.

Just as she went to swing for the baby, I blocked her foot with a silver trash can lid.

She whimpered as her foot came into contact with it. "Drop it."

I didn't answer her but her Jesus Club groupies pulled it away from me before pushing me back down on the ground.

"That baby is an abomination against God. It's not right for it to live."

"Murder is a sin too Becky. That's not right either." My tone begged her to stop.

She walked towards me and squatted down to be next to my face. "This isn't even murder." she spat. "You 'baby' doesn't even count Clare. You and Eli aren't married. The daddy isn't Christian and the mother is a whore. This is wrong and it's my job as a child of God to make it right."

She backed up and I wrapped my arms around my stomach. "Becky, please. Stop. I'll leave school just please stop." I begged.

"Pull her arms back." she yelled.

The other girls yanked my arms away as Becky began to walk towards me.

I began to sob as I balled my legs up.

I couldn't do it. I had failed my baby. I couldn't protect him anymore.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered.

I saw Becky pull her legs back and closed my eyes, waiting for impact.

"Hey!" I heard a familiar voice yell.

"Who is that?" One of the other girls said in a panicked voice.

"Get away from her!"

"She's running towards us. What do we do?" the other said in the same tone.

"Let her go!" I heard the distant voice yell again.

"Let's go." Becky said. Her voice was cold.

My arms dropped and footsteps ran away.

I opened my eyes to see that everyone was gone.

I heard someone running towards me. I tried to look out of the corner of my eye to see who it was but my eyelids were too swollen to see.

I tried to push myself away but I could barely move.

"Clare," I heard a worried voice say.

I tried to make my eyes focus and see who it was.

"Oh my God, Clare you're bleeding." she said.

I felt her hand on my head and felt pain where she touched.

"Hello? I need an ambulance in the alley next to the Dot right away. There's a young girl here who's bleeding every badly."

I began to squirm to try to see who was in front of me.

"Everything is fine Clare. Help is on the way."

The ride to the hospital felt longer than the one from a few weeks ago. The difference this time was that I was alone. Whoever had called the ambulance apparently wasn't allowed to ride to the hospital with me.

I didn't know where Eli was but I was angry at him. I knew he couldn't have helped having to work but this was the second time I needed him and he was no where the be seen.

I was scared and I wanted him here but he wasn't.

Once we got to the hospital, I tried to tell the nurses from the ambulance that I could walk in but they didn't let me. The bleeding was too severe, I suppose.

They put me on a stretcher and wheeled me in. The night air was cold and stuck to me like pins and needles. My head was pounding.

I was put into a room with other people on stretchers and doctors immediately began to work on me. They put something over my mouth and I began to feel dizzier than I already was.

I tried to force my eyes awake but they felt too heavy. I was under in a matter of minutes.

Soon, I heard a voice from beside me. There was a loud beeping noise and my breathing seemed too loud.

"Clare?" the voice asked.

I moved my head towards the voice but my vision was still blurry.

"There she is." I recognized the voice as Dr. Williams'.

"What happened?" I asked. I tried to sit up but her hands stopped me.

"Just lay back. Your stitches are still fresh so we don't want to disturb them." she said.

"Clare." another voice said. It was Alli.

"Alli," I said. I was starting to be able to see better. "What's going on?"

"Everything is fine, Clare. The baby is fine, you're fine. Everything is okay."

I let my lungs fill up with air with that news. I was momentarily relieved.

"Is Eli here?" I asked.

She glanced around the room like she didn't want to answer me. "No, it's just me." she said. "I've tried calling him but it just goes to voicemail."

I nodded and tried not to cry. So much was going on that I couldn't control.

"I'm happy you're here." I said. "Thank you."

"I wouldn't be anywhere else." she grabbed my hand and sat in a chair beside me. "I'm so sorry Clare." she said.

I nodded. "I know."

So BECKY WAS WWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY OC in this chapter but I think it made it interesting that way. Hopefully you agree but if not oh well.

I originally wrote this chapter and the next one together as one complete chapter but it was suuper long so I broke it in two. SO the next chapter will pick up right where this left off in the ER with Alli and Clare.

Anyways, leave a review telling me what you want the name and gender of the baby to be.

Thanks for reading!

Whatever. It. Takes.

~JuliaGoldsworthy