A/N: Yay, people reviewed. I know it was kind of predictable what was going to happen, but it was never going to be a secret. It's more interesting to watch the consequences for everyone, don't you think?

Anyway, I don't own any of it, you know that and so do I.

Chapter Two

"Thank you Girardi, I really want that broadcast across the Greater Arcadia area."

"Grace, that's not an answer to my question." Joan stopped to take a breath. "Are you pregnant?"

"Yes," admitted Grace, looking Joan in the eye for the first time that evening.

"Ok, shit. I'm really trying to be calm rational friend right now, but it's kind of hard. I have absolutely no idea what to say. You know I'm here for you, right?"

Grace nodded.

"I'm guessing that's what the doctor said was wrong."

"I've been kind of tired lately, so the doctor suggested a test to rule it out. I'm on the pill Joan, so I thought there was no chance. Then when they told me..." Grace stopped and took a breath, then half smiled. "Now I'm trying not to completely freak out. And I have to tell my father."

"Oh, God, Grace. What are you going to do?"

"I have no idea. My first thought was just to get rid of it. Then it kind of hit me that it's not just an it. It's a little person and the thought of killing it makes me sick to my stomach."

"Grace, I have no idea what I can say to help. I'm probably useless, but if you want to talk I'm here."

"I don't 'talk'," Grace paused. "But I think I might need to yell a bit. Not here though. If I freak out, I'd rather not do it in front of the entire city."

"My house?" asked Joan.

"No! Far too many people. What about Adam's? I guess I have to tell him too, because I know I have like 5 minutes before you can't help yourself."

"I'll call him."

Joan made a quick phone call to Adam who confirmed that his father was at work and it was ok for the girls to come. Then Joan phoned home to say she was going to Adam's with Grace to 'study' and she wouldn't be back for dinner.

On the drive to Adam's, Joan had so many questions running around in her head that she could barely concentrate on the road.

"How many weeks pregnant are you?" The question popped out before Joan could stop it.

"Nine. Which gives me about three before I start to get fat, and have to start telling people. Is that what you wanted to know."

"Grace, just tell me to shut up if you want. I just don't know what to say."

"Girardi, it wouldn't be you if you weren't asking a million annoying questions. Besides, it's not like that wasn't one of my first thoughts too."

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Grace, Adam and Joan were sat together in Adam's living room trying to take in the news. And surprisingly it was Adam that first brought up the question that Grace really didn't want to answer.

"So who's the father?"

"I'm not answering that."

"Cha, you do know don't you?" joked Adam.

"Of course I know Rove."

"Whatever you say Grace," Adam smiled at his oldest friend. "So are you going to tell us?"

"No, because you'll just freak out."

"No we wouldn't," protested Joan. "Well we might if it was like Price or..." Joan stopped. "Oh God, ew. Please don't tell me that my younger brother knocked you up."

Grace nodded. "Told you that you'd freak out."

'Ok, ew, you slept with my little brother. That is just gross. Ew."

"Thank you Girardi, because now I feel so much better."

Joan calmed down pretty quickly and apologized to Grace.

"Not like I didn't expect it. C'mon Girardi, you get all freaked when you see your parents kiss. I can kind of see why this is freak out material."

"Ok. I'm still in ew territory, but I didn't even know you were seeing him, let alone getting naked, and, oh God, that is an image no girl should have of her best friend and little brother." Joan turned bright red and buried her face in Adam's shoulder.

Against all odds Grace laughed at Joan.

"It was fun, and secret. And it stayed fun and secret until Geek-Boy wanted to tell the world and I said no way. He hasn't spoken to me since."

Joan looked up from Adam's shoulder. "You mean he's been acting like a freak for a month because you broke up with him?"

"I didn't break up with him, because we were never a couple."

"No, you just slept together. Oh God, ew."

"Shut up Girardi, I get it ok!"

"So when are you going to tell him?" asked Adam.

"I'm not."

"C'mon Grace. You have to. You're pretty skinny, so people are going to figure it out."

"No way, Geek-Boy has like honor and crap. If he finds out he'll want to 'do the right thing.'" Adam and Joan could almost see the quotation marks. "Then my Dad will find out it's him and I'll be Mrs. Girardi before spring break. I don't think so."

"Grace, you have to tell him. He's my brother and I get that he's going to go nuts. But this is his responsibility too. He's the baby's father." Joan paused for a moment. "And that makes me Aunt Joan."

Joan pulled her shocked friend into a hug.

"Girardi, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Hugging you. Now just promise you'll think about telling him."

"Whatever, I'm going home. I have to think about this. If either of you tell anyone about this I'll kill you."

"Night Grace. See you tomorrow." Joan was comforted by the fact that Grace now seemed much more like herself.

After Grace left, Adam pulled Joan into his lap. He could somehow tell that she needed to be close to him.

"Jane, if it was you that was pregnant, you'd tell me right?"

'Of course. I mean it's kind of unlikely seeing as how we've never... But, yes of course I'd tell you. I don't have any secrets from you, not anymore."

"I know it all huh?"

"We'll maybe not all, but the important stuff."

"Like you talking to you know who?"

"Yeah, like that. Well talking to Him, shouting at Him, even dancing with Him once."

"No way!" Adam laughed.

"You remember that party Luke and I threw? When I didn't dance with you all evening, then you saw me dance with that other guy."

"That was..? No way. Man, I was so jealous of that guy. Now I don't feel so bad."

"That was Him." Joan smiled. "I liked dancing with you a lot better though."

"Glad to know."

"Adam, do you think there's anything we can do for Grace tonight? I mean I feel kinda bad for getting mad with her."

"Cha, we can tell your brother. But we promised we wouldn't."

An idea suddenly struck Joan. She climbed out of Adam's lap and pulled him off the couch.

"We can help her find out what's gonna happen."

"We're gonna buy her a crystal ball, yo?"

"Nice smartass. We're gonna buy her a pregnancy book. You know 'Morning Sickness, Getting Fat and Other Joys of Pregnancy.'"

"Jane, you're a genius."

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It was a little after 8, so Adam and Joan drove back to Barnes and Noble, which was open until 10. The pregnancy books were near the back, between the children's section and the science books. Joan bent down and picked out a couple of titles to flick through. They all seemed pretty similar, but one in particular caught her eye. It looked like it was designed for a younger mother, with lots of quirky facts and clear explanations. It was the kind of thing that Joan was sure Grace would appreciate. She stood up deciding this was the one.

"Hey Adam, what do you think of this one?"

Adam who was standing behind her wrapped his arms around her waist and looked over her shoulder at the book.

Joan who had been flicking through stopped on a page with incredible clear photos of fetuses at different stages of development.

"Dude, that is so weird. Like in a month, the baby will be like a baby."

"Nicely put Einstein. But yea, it's kind of freaky how it's like fully formed, just really tiny so soon."

"Freaky but cool."

Joan turned around in Adam's arms and kissed him.

"You are so sweet."

"Unchallenged."

"Hey," Joan playfully hit Adam with the baby book. "Is that an ego I detect?"

"Never."

"C'mon."

With his arm slung over Joan's shoulder, Adam led them to the cash registers to pay for the book. The matching smiles left them looking, for all the world, like any proud parents-to-be. They were so caught up in each other that they didn't see the familiar face watching them from the science section.

The clerk smiled at Adam and Joan when they reached the front of the line.

"Oh, hey, congratulations." She said when she saw what book they were buying.

"It's not, I mean we're..." Adam tried to correct her.

"Thanks," Joan smiled as she handed over the money. "He's going to make such a great father."

Adam looked at Joan like she had grown a second head.

The guy standing two people behind them in the line couldn't believe what he was hearing. Friedman had gossip. And he wasn't above spreading it to everyone he knew.

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Joan rushed right to her room as soon as she got home. She couldn't face seeing anyone in her family, and especially not her Mom or Luke. The honestly thought that if she had to speak to either of them she'd last exactly 8 seconds before she told them.

It took her hours to get to sleep, not helped by the fact that she wanted to read as much of the book as she could before she gave it to Grace the next day. So all of this meant that Joan woke up a little late. She switched on the radio and got dressed as fast as humanly possible. She grabbed her backpack from the floor and was about to drop the baby book in it, when an unexpected voice came from the radio.

"I wouldn't do that Joan."

Joan jumped. Then glared at the radio. "You scared me. And why shouldn't I? Don't you like the book idea?"

"I think it's a very thoughtful gift. I'm just suggesting that you don't take it to school with you."

"Oh God, sorry blasphemy, but you're right. I mean it's not exactly subtle is it. Thanks. You know you're much less of a pain in the ass as you used to be."

"Joan," her mother's voice called from outside the door. "Who're you talking to? Are you on the phone?"

"No Mom, I'm just making sarcastic comments at the radio."

"Ok, sweetie. Breakfast is ready though."

'I'll be down in a minute."

Joan quickly searched her room for a place to hide it until she gave it to Grace. Eventually she decided to hide it under the pillows on her bed.

Joan ran down the stairs and through the kitchen.

"Breakfast, sweetie?" Helen asked.

"Can't, sorry, gotta go," replied Joan as she sped out the door.

"Ok, so now she's acting weird too. Are you sure you don't know what's going on?" Helen looked pointedly at her husband and oldest son.

{}{}{}

Arriving at school a little earlier than usual had a couple of advantages for Joan. She successfully managed to avoid Luke and her Mother and hid in her homeroom until first period.

Joan's English credit, 'American Literature,' was another one from the top of an alphabetical list, but it was also the second of the two classes that Joan shared with Grace.

Ms. Allen, the teacher was sick, and as this was a seniors only class they got a free period rather than another teacher taking the class.

Joan and Grace decided to head off campus to minimize the possibility of anyone overhearing their conversation.

"Girardi, just ask me the questions. I might not answer them, but honestly this trying not to ask is even more annoying."

"Ok, ok, sure. So, how are you feeling this morning?"

"Physically or mentally? Because physically I feel fine. A little sick, but it's not like in the movies where you have to throw up every five minutes. Mentally, a little better than last night. I think the total shock factor is wearing off. And as much as I hate to say this, you're right. I have to tell Geek-Boy, and soon. And I have to tell your parents and my dad. That's the bit I have a problem with."

"Ok, well Luke will go into a catatonic state, then refuse to move more than three feet away from you for the next seven months, Mom will go visit her priest a lot and pray, then she'll realize you're Jewish and feel guilty. Dad, well, he'll yell at Luke, and then he'll feel bad and be great about it. I don't know your father well enough to know what he'll do."

"Ok, well let me summarize. The Rabbi's 17 year old daughter gets knocked up by a 16 year old non Jew who she has no intention of dating, let alone marrying."

"Yea, well put like that..."

"I know exactly what he'll do. He'll be very understanding, and then suggest I start thinking about which all Jewish adoption agency I want to use."

"You think?"

"I know. And it's not that I didn't spend all of last night thinking about doing exactly that. I mean, c'mon, I'm not exactly the maternal type, am I. But I have to make that choice, without his pressure bullshit."

"Of course it's your choice. But, it's not like you even have to choose right now. You have seven months. But you're definitely not going to, umm, get rid of it?"

"Have an abortion? No. Funny huh. If I had any sense I would, and then I wouldn't have all of this to think about. It would just be gone. I guess 17 years of organized religion have gotten to me. This is my problem and it's not its fault. I can't kill it." Grace unconsciously rubbed her stomach, where the baby was growing.

Joan smiled when she noticed what Grace was doing, but she realized that she'd be pushing it if she called her friend on it. Joan decided to discreetly change the subject.

"Adam got all weird on me after you left."

"He was probably using his artistic talents to build a mental picture of what your kids are gonna look like. "

Joan blushed.

"Oh God, you guys are so cute it makes me want to hurl. Let me guess, you went home and dreamt about having lots of babies with Adam, then on your way to school you picked out baby names."

Joan blushed even redder. "Not consciously. But I did kind of think that if we had a girl; we'd have to call it Elizabeth, after his mom. Does that make me a total freak?"

"No more than usual. You're just so in love it makes me sick. This should be you guys not me you know. You'd be able to cope with it. Me, with a kid, I don't think so. I killed my goldfish after two weeks because I forgot to feed it."

"Grace..."

"Sorry, random self pity attack. It's been happening a lot lately."

"You're going to get so sick of me saying this, but if you need anything, I'm here."

"You're right," Grace got up from the bench where they had been sitting. "I am sick of hearing it, but thanks anyway. Want to get some disgusting fake coffee before we head back?"

"Sure."

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Luke was having a bad day. In fact this had been a bad week, and an even worse month. He was pissed, hurt, and the worst thing was that he couldn't talk to anyone about it. Grace had totally broken his heart, and then she had told him that if he ever told even one person that they'd dated, she's show him just what she remembered about what caustic chemicals do to skin.

The sick thing was, that was one of the things that he loved about her. Not the torture threats obviously, but that she didn't give a damn. Luke desperately wanted to stop giving a damn, wanted to stop hurting, but at the moment that seemed unlikely.

"My friend." Friedman walked up behind Luke and slapped him between the shoulders. "I have some news that is guaranteed to both freak you out and warm your heart."

"Shut up Friedman!" Luke tried to walk away, but his annoying semi-friend just followed him.

"Nu-uh Luke my man, just listen. So last night I was in Barnes and Noble buying that new book on applied chaos theory, but that's totally not the point."

"So there's a point?"

"Oh, there's a point. The point is the happy couple I saw buying a pregnancy book."

"And?"

"You don't want to know who it was? You have to know. Dude, it was your sister and Rove. Then they went to pay and your sister was all about how Rove's going to be a great father. Don't you get it? She's pregnant, she has a bun in the oven, she's in the family way."

"Friedman, where do you get this "

"God, no, I mean your twisted imagination. I mean it, get a life."

"It's the truth. Believe it, not, whatever."

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That evening, like all Fridays, Adam and Grace came back to Joan's house. Joan had had to promise that there was no way Luke would be there, but they still came. They usually did homework or hung out, then Adam and Joan went out, either to a movie or back to Adam's shed to make out. Joan didn't care which.

They were about half way through the mountain of AP Bio homework they had been set in last period when Helen arrived home.

"Hey Mrs. Girardi," "Hey Mom," the three greeted her, all complications set aside until the homework was done.

"Joan honey, I'm going to start the laundry. Do you want me to grab your stuff?"

"Sure Mom," Joan answered without really listening.

Helen disappeared from the kitchen, going upstairs where she greeted Luke who was in his bedroom, pretending to do homework, but actually avoiding Grace.

Adam, Joan and Grace continued with their homework, but about five minutes later Helen appeared back in the kitchen with a kind of blank, shocked look on her face.

"Adam, Joan, I think I need to have a talk with both of you."

"Sure Mom, what's up?"

"I think maybe we should talk in private."

"Come on Mom, we're studying."

"Fine. Do you two have something to tell us?" Helen held up the pregnancy book.

Joan's eyes widened. "No, Mom, it's totally not what you think."

"Then what exactly is it?" Helen shouted louder than any of them had ever heard before.

"It's just..." Joan looked to Adam and Grace. Adam was looking kind of blank, and Grace looked pissed. "I can't explain"

Luke appeared in the kitchen after hearing the yelling. He took one look at the book and joined in.

"It's true? Freidman told me but I thought it was just his sick imagination."

"Joan sweetie," Helen's voice was back to normal volume. "I thought you could tell me anything."

"He said you were telling the clerk at the bookstore how great a father Adam's gonna be."

Joan blushed.

"I'm not mad, ok, well I am mad, but I just want to help. How far along are you?"

"Mom!" Joan squeaked.

"Ok, enough." Grace stood up. "Mrs. Girardi, Joan's not pregnant."

"But..." Luke interrupted.

"Shut up! Joan's not the one that's pregnant. I am."

Luke turned white as a ghost. His eyes widened and he just managed to stutter out; "Oh God, you mean..."

"I mean." Grace answered, oddly resigned to what was about to happen.

"Oh God," Luke repeated. He stumbled backwards and sat down heavily in the chair behind him.