Gabriella tried to control her breathing. No. No, no, this can't happen. Her thoughts were so loud she couldn't hear Troy trying to bring her back. Tears filled her eyes and she felt strong arms gather her close. She pressed her cheek to Troy's shoulder, beginning to hyperventilate. Words began to slowly trickle into her brain.
"Hey, Gabriella, heyyy. Its going to be okay. We'll work this out. We always do." He stroked her back, speaking gently into her soft hair. "I know. I know, I'm scared too. Look at me."
She continued to cling to him.
"Look at me." He pulled her head back. "Hey. I promise that no matter what… I will fight for you and do everything it takes for us to keep our lives the way it's been."
"Promise?"
He clutched her even tighter. "I never break a promise."
"I know." Her words were barely audible.
Still holding her, Troy navigated them to the bed, and they fell back. Gabriella began to softly weep, and all he could do was hold her.
Finally, she spoke, calming down. "Now what?"
He propped up on his elbow, looking down at her lying on her back.
He sighed. "Well, I'm not an expert, but I think the doctor is the only option right now." He glanced at his desk. "But first we need to get rid of that." He hopped up, taking the pregnancy test, wrapping it in the plastic bag, and burying it in his wastebasket.
The front door opened.
Gabriella panicked. "Your mom's home." She began to hyperventilate again.
"Heyyy, hey! Calm down!" He grabbed her shoulders. "Don't panic!" He glanced at the door and lowered his voice. "I'll just say that you went to bed because you weren't feeling well."
She nodded. "Okay, that's good. I'm not hungry anyway."
Troy rolled his eyes. "Well, you have to eat something. You're eating for two now."
Gabriella suppressed a smile. "Not really yet. I won't feel it for a while. You don't pay much attention in health class, do you?"
"Only on the interesting things," he said, grinning slyly and pouncing on her.
Gabriella laughed for the first time all day.
Troy managed to get an appointment set up two days later. All of this was done without Mr and Mrs Bolton knowing, which of course proved difficult. On the day of the appointment, Troy and Gabriella decided to tell Mr and Mrs Bolton they were going to meet Chad and Taylor at a movie. They called their friends ahead to let them know that if the occasion arose, to vouch for them. Chad and Taylor still were unaware of the tiny fertilised egg within their friend, but agreed to vouch.
Troy drove Gabriella to the hospital, his girlfriend remaining silent the whole way. He kept glancing over at her, finally reaching over and taking her hand. Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, he held her hand for the rest of the drive in silence.
When they parked, the two sat there for a long moment. Troy squeezed her hand and opened his door. "Well," he said, going around and opening her door. "Let's go see about a baby."
Gabriella leaned her head back and closed her eyes, not getting out of the truck.
Troy moved closer and rested a hand on her thigh, the other holding onto the doorframe. "Gabriella," he said tenderly. His hand raised to her chin, tilting it towards him. "I promise it will be worth it."
He stepped back and opened the door wider for her. She gave him a small smile and got out.
They found their way to the obstetrics clinic, signed in, and sat down. It wasn't long before a kind-faced nurse came back. "Gabriella Montez?"
They stood and followed the nurse to an exam room.
"If you would get up on the bed for me, Miss Montez, we can go ahead and get started."
She obliged, but Troy jumped up next to her, grinning at her. Gabriella giggled and shoved him off.
The nurse smiled. "I don't think we're examining you today," she said to him, a laugh at the edges of her voice.
After a quick examination, the nurse left to get the doctor. Gabriella looked around the white sterile room. "I don't like it."
Troy nodded, leaning on the end of the bed. "Me neither, but so far, nothing unusual."
The doctor walked in. "Hello, I'm Dr. Kelly." She was a tall, brunette woman, with lots of freckles and smile creases around her eyes. She was holding a clipboard.
Pulling up a swivel chair, she sat and looked Gabriella up and down. "Well, you're a pretty little thing, that's for sure!"
Gabriella smiled bashfully.
"So. We're here for an unexpected pregnancy, is that right?"
Both Troy and Gabriella nodded.
"Okay, before I get started, Gabriella, you need to know that I may be asking you and Troy some uncomfortable questions…" She spoke gently, her eyes comforting. "…but know that this is not meant to make you uncomfortable, we're here to figure out how to best go about this, okay?"
"Okay, that's fine." Gabriella folded her hands, bracing herself.
"Alright. You two are dating, correct?"
"Yes."
"For how long?"
Troy answered. "About a year now."
"So, based on the reason you are here, I assume you are both sexually active?"
"This was a first time for both of us. About three weeks ago." Troy again jumped up on the bed.
Dr Kelly made some notes. "And protection was used?"
Gabriella nodded. "I'm on birth control. That was all we used, though."
Troy ran a hand through his hair. "But looking back, we probably should've been more careful."
"Morning sickness?"
"Some," Gabriella responded. "Mostly vomiting and headaches."
"Another question," Dr Kelly said, moving right along. "Have either of you been diagnosed with some genital disease?"
Gabriella glanced at Troy. He shook his head. "None."
Dr Kelly made more notes. "And last question. Are your parents aware of the pregnancy?" she asked carefully.
Both shook their heads.
"Alright, Gabriella, if you will lie down for me, I will do a little exam to make sure you're healthy, and then we'll talk about options."
She laid down and Dr Kelly draped a sheet over her legs. Gabriella removed her underwear under the sheet and pulled up her skirt. Troy moved to Gabriella's head and took her hand, giving it a squeeze.
Dr Kelly rolled her chair to the foot of the bed and bent Gabriella's knees to get a better look.
Gabriella craned her head up at Troy, nervous. He looked down at her, a loving smile on his face, and bobbed down to give a quick kiss to her nose. She beamed.
Dr Kelly came up. "You look healthy, that's good. All fantastic down there."
Gabriella sat up and Troy popped up next to her. She leaned on his shoulder.
"Okay." Dr Kelly set her clipboard aside. "It's time to talk about the next step. You have a couple things you can do, but I want to hear your thoughts first."
Troy took a deep breath. "I'm going to say for both of us… abortion is out of the question."
Tears welled in Gabriella's eyes.
Troy glanced at her. "And that is why." He put an arm around her.
Dr Kelly nodded. "Of course. I would never recommend something so traumatising for someone so young."
"What are our other options?" Gabriella asked, composing herself.
"You can put your baby up for adoption. Or there's an orphanage…"
Troy shook his head.
"Or… you can go through with it and make a plan with your parents."
Gabriella took a deep breath. "I don't know, I just… I don't know." She buried her face in her hands.
"Okay. Okay, then. Don't make a decision right this instant. But I want you to see something first that might help. Lie down."
Troy got up so Gabriella could lie down and pulled the sheet over her.
The doctor pulled Gabriella's top up to her ribs. Her belly had hardly grown at all, but already Troy thought she had a pregnant glow.
Dr Kelly pulled out an ultrasound, and rubbed a cold gel across Gabriella's stomach. "You ready?"
She nodded and took Troy's hand.
Dr Kelly brought the sensor to her stomach, searching around in the muddled grey on the screen before noticing something. She brought it back, moving around a little more, and an oval came to the screen.
Only the oval had a head. And tiny arms. And little legs.
A baby.
A very small, barely developed baby.
Gabriella's eyes filled with tears. Troy's did too. He moved closer to the screen.
"That's… ours?"
Dr Kelly smiled tenderly and nodded. "It certainly is."
Gabriella covered her mouth in surprise joy. She couldn't believe that she could see the tiny person growing inside her.
"Would you like these pictures?" Dr Kelly asked.
"Yes. Yes, of course." Gabriella said breathlessly.
Dr Kelly offered the sensor to Troy. "Here. You can look around while I print these."
Troy took it as she left the room. He pressed it lightly to Gabriella's belly and the unborn infant came back to the screen.
"Gabriella…" he said, not tearing his eyes from the screen. "That's ours. That's our baby." A light chuckle sounded in his throat as he searched his girlfriend's belly.
Dr Kelly came back with a white envelope. She handed it to them as Troy put the sensor away.
"Here. I know you will make the right decision. Call me if we need to talk about this. And…" she said as Gabriella pulled her shirt down and and got up from the bed. "Talk to your parents. Please. This is so important."
Troy took Gabriella's hand as they walked out. "Don't worry. I'm planning on it."
When they got home, they went straight to Troy's room and shut the door. They sat on the bed, and Troy pulled the envelope out of his pocket. He placed it in the space between them and looked at her.
"You want to look?"
Gabriella smiled and reached for the envelope.