Disclaimer – I don't own Stardew Valley or My Time in Portia. This is one of my four NaNoWriMo projects for 2019, so I aim to write at least 12,500 for this story this month.

Note – I don't wish to spoil things for readers, so I will be including a few notes towards the end of certain chapters explaining my thought process. I also wish to warn regarding my interpretation of Sebastian and Abigail's relationship in that I felt her behavior regarding Sebastian was obsessive at times if not stalkerish. Some in Pelican town think they're already an item, but others think like Sam and Maru that Sebastian is shy regarding his feelings for Abigail. More importantly, when Abigail marries the farmer, her obsession gravitates from Sebastian to the farmer, so when he says his only friend in town is Sam, he's not referring to the fact he lost Abigail as a friend, but instead lost the farmer as a friend.

Sebastian's Time in Portia
Prologue Days – Doing the Right Thing

Winter was ending.

Downstairs in the basement a chill from the thawing snow outside of his mother's house left a residual feeling of winter which Sebastian found himself eating up. His dark eyes opened and closed right before he breathed on a cup of hot coffee he'd prepared for himself. In fact, his eyes drooped as sleep tried taking over.

His latest programming project floated on the computer screen while he delighted in finishing the work and the fact he'd earned his keep - not that anyone else in the family would be aware of his sucess. His family practically ignored the fact he actually did work from his basement, but both his mother and Abigail barged in at the worst times.

The sound of footsteps on the stairs drew Sebastian's up while his eyes blinked back the cloud of sleep. A frown twisted onto his lips while he contemplated who the footsteps belonged to. His mother never came down so fast, but today wasn't the eleventh or twenty fifth of the month - the day Abigail normally came and pestered him against his wishes.

"Sebastian!" Maru's voice made Sebastian open and close his eyes in confusion. Maru never came downstairs, but his mind flickered too the many times she complained about his room; the words indicated she never wanted to venture into his personal territory. Yet, here she was.

"You're an idiot!"

Sebastian reached a hand behind his neck, rubbing the tension out as he sat up straight. He attempted clearing his throat, fully intending on asking Maru what she meant by her accusation; in fact, he wondered what he'd done now to make his half-sister lash out at him to the point she ventured downstairs.

"You could have at least used protection!"

His dark eyes blinked, his mind struggling to make out Maru's features in the dark, yet he definitely thought he discerned anger in her voice. "W-what?"

"You got Abigail pregnant!"

Sebastian's eyes blinked while his jaw went slightly slack. His mind attempted fathoming what Maru just said, yet her words seemed unreal. Him getting Abigail pregnant didn't seem a possible part of his reality, yet here his own sister - half-sister - was railing on him for getting her pregnant. "Huh?"

"Sebastian!" Maru stormed over, letting Sebastian see her hands forming fists at her sides. She lowered her face down so she was right in his, forcing him back slightly. "This! This is serious! Abigail is pregnant with your child!"

"How…" He wanted to ask how that was possible. Instead…

"How do I know? It's kind of hard for me not to know when I work at the clinic! I ended up over hearing Abigail screaming at Harvey that she can't possibly be pregnant, but that she doesn't want to wait to figure things out!"

"Yes, but…"

"Don't you dare! Don't you dare make excuses for yourself!"

Sebastian felt a shudder run down his spine. Maru was too close, but he could see the tears of anger in her eyes. Rarely, if ever did he see her temper rear like their mother's did, yet in the back of his mind he didn't want to see how Robin would in fact react to the situation.

Maru pulled away before hurrying up the stairs. The door slammed on her way out, and yet something told him the end of the conversation wouldn't be the end of the situation. The dread of going out and socializing was others - that was already a painful experience, yet the experience could only get worse.

The dread only worsened when he heard another set of footsteps on the stairs, yet this time he recognized who was coming down. His entire body tensed, knowing full well the other female in his family would lay into him. His eyes closed, hating when his mother lost her temper with him.

His eyes opened upon hearing the door open. He watched his mother step over and look him in the eye, yet she remained silent. The silent felt worse; his eyes drifted away so he wouldn't make eye contact. "I…"

"Sebastian, I don't want to hear it." The monotone sound in Robin's voice made Sebastian look up. The look in her eyes made him swallow. "We'll talk about this later when I'm not so inclined to yell at you."

"But…"

"No." Robin held up her hands before turning and heading up the stairs. "Not right now."

~SP~

Not right now started feeling like not ever.

The fact he rarely ventured from the room didn't help, but he started feeling as if Robin was avoiding him. He didn't try talking to Demetrius, the last thing he needed was yet another argument with the step-father he looked nothing like. Every so often Demetrius glanced up from his newspaper, yet he said nothing.

Sebastian finally found himself retreating to his and Sam's Saturday jam session in hopes of some relief with the stress he felt regarding the situation. As he walked towards Sam's place, he felt as if he let out more sighs than he usually did on the long walk; he wanted to say something in his own defense, yet so far he was unable to.

His hands jammed into his pocket, yet his eyes didn't look up out of fear of running into anyone but Sam.

"Yo! Seb!" Hearing his overly cheerful friend's voice made Sebastian look up at his friend. He tried putting a smile on his face. "You're running…"

"What?" Sebastian's eyes blinked.

"You're smiling. That's just as weird as you running late for our jam session."

"Sorry." Sebastian's voice was almost a whisper. As he glanced down, he saw one of Sam's eyebrow's shoot up.

"Anyways, let's head inside. We can still get a snack before we start."

Sebastian shrugged his shoulders before following Sam into the house which was much smaller than the one his mother Robin built. He felt as if his hands sunk deeper into his pockets as he stepped into the house. He made the mistake of looking up into the kitchen area and saw Sam's mother as his friend headed into the kitchen to get them snacks.

Jody stood in the kitchen as her coppery brown hair fell in front of her eyes. Despite this, the look on her face reminded him too much of the look he'd seen on his own mother's face. He felt his chest tighten, but his shoulder blades tensed up. Sam noticed; his usual smile left his face while one hand brushed away a lock of blond hair from his forehead.

"Mom, why are you looking at Sebastian like that?"

Sebastian heard Jody clear her throat. Her eyes didn't leave him for one minute. "Didn't Sebastian tell you Abigail is pregnant?"

He felt his blood run cold. He felt terror as Jody looked him in the eye. Sam's blue eyes blinked, then his jaw dropped. He turned and looked at Sebastian, his mouth opening and closing before he turned and looked at his mother. The shock was evident, yet Sebastian couldn't handle standing their.

He quickly turned, heading for home. Over his shoulder, he could hear Sam call out after him. "Seb. Wait."

~SP~

"Do you want to talk?"

The message from Sam now sat in an open e-mail unanswered, yet Sebastian didn't want to talk. He didn't even want to tell Sam, "no" despite the fact all it took was hitting two keys on the keyboard and pushing the send button. Something so easy didn't feel easy.

Instead, he lay on his bed looking at the ceiling wishing the problem would go away, yet the words which might solve the problem remained stuck on his tongue, feeling heavy. His fingers twisted into the sheets as he lay on top of the bed, his frustration at his situation and lack of voice growing.

He heard footsteps on the stairs, yet knew from the speed in the rythm of steps that the person wasn't his mother. His eyes closed, not wanting to talk to Maru, knowing full well the talk would simply be her yelling at him and him not getting a word in. His eyes tightened upon hearing the door open.

"Sebastian?" The sound of Abigail's voice made Sebastian's eyes snap open.

He swallowed, turning his head to look towards the doorway. He hoped his tone of voice would make her turn and leave. "What?"

"Can we talk?"

Sebastian let out a deep breath. He sat up in bed, looking down in his hands. She was the last person he wanted to talk to. In the faint light, he saw his hand twitch slightly, involontarily. Abigail took his silence as permission to approach; Sebastian tensed up upon hearing her stepping over to his bed.

"What are we going to do?"

Sebastian's brow furrowed. His fingers tightened around the bedsheets again. "What…" He couldn't help but feel angry. "… do you mean by 'what are we going to do'?"

"Everyone thinks you'll ask me to marry you, because it's the right thing."

"The right thing?" Sebastian felt like he was choking on his own words. He moved so his legs swung off the bed so he could face Abigail. "I'm not the father. So how is me marrying you the right thing?"

"I wouldn't have done it if you hadn't rejected me!"

"You…" Sebastian closed his eyes tightly. "Did you just blame me for you going off and having sex with - I don't even know who!" His hand swung out, his eyes opening up as he looked Abigail in the eye. "Are you kidding me?" Sebastian took a deep breath. "Get out. Get out of my room."

"But…"

"Leave!" He heard Abigail move towards the door, but didn't relax until he heard the door close. He flopped down onto the bed and took a deep breath.

The feeling of relief didn't last long. He heard yet another set of footsteps. His eyes clamped shut long before his door slammed open. "Sebastian. What did you do?"

"Maru…" He tried remaining calm with his younger sister, but…

"You made Abigail cry! Why do you have to be such an idiot! I wish I wasn't related to you right now."

Sebastian opened his eyes. Maru was already turning towards the door. His attempt to speak was interupted by the door of his room slamming; Sebastian couldn't help but wince.

Note – Where did the idea for the pregnancy scare come from? When Abigail is in the clinic, she has a line regarding the fact she isn't pregnant and just sick. However, if she did end up pregnant – everyone would automatically assume the father is Sebastian.