Chapter Seventy-Two

I sat down in a hard plastic chair, willing myself to be calm. This was no big deal. Women got abortions every day. They were no big deal.

"Keep telling yourself that, Callie," I muttered under my breath. "That'll make it real."

A women sitting across from me looked up. She was about thirty and noticeably pregnant-at least six months along.

"Pardon, dear?" she said pleasantly.

"Nothing," I said quickly.

"Excuse me for being forward, but why are you here?" she asked.

"I'm getting an abortion," I said slowly, avoiding her eyes. She clucked her tongue sympathetically.

"Poor thing. Boyfriend turn out to be bad news?"

"If it was that easy, I wouldn't be here. Actually I'm married, and I'm not sure if it's his," I admitted. She raised her eyebrows but tried her best to hide her shock.

"What happened?"

"About a month ago, this guy I thought was my friend came over and he… hurt me, you know?" I said, looking down.

"Oh dear. The same thing happened to my sister-in-law, and she had the baby and it turned out to be her husband's, but I know it doesn't always work like that. Does your husband know?" she asked. I looked up with a twinge of annoyance. This woman was nosy.

"No," I said shortly.

"Sorry to press. If you told him, he might be more understanding," she said. I nodded and buried my face in a random magazine I'd found on the table beside me.

I felt her eyes on me as I pretended to read an article about getting grace juice out of shirts. I only relaxed when they called her away to have her ultrasound or whatever else she was in for.

"Scott, Callie?" called a voice from the door. I looked up sharply.

"We'll see you now," the voice continued. I nodded and slowly began to stand.

"CALLIE!" called a voice. I turned away from the door and toward the entrance, to which Sawyer had just come in from. He ran toward me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked softly.

"Tess told me you were pregnant, and I kind of figured it out," he said, taking my hands in his.

"What else did she tell you?" I asked shakily.

"That you had something to tell me. What are you doing here? I told you we could handle it," he reminded me. He sat down on the chair beside mine.

"It's more complicated than that," I said, taking a deep breath.

"Tell me everything," he ordered softly.

"Callie Scott? Will you be taking your appointment?" asked the same voice from the door, now sounding annoyed.

"No," said Sawyer, looking into my eyes. She nurse looked between us before shrugging and calling the next name. "Come on, tell me."

"You remember the weekend you went away to visit Taylor? I had a science report due on the Tuesday so I needed to work with Mark…" I began.

"Mark?" asked Sawyer in slight panic, cutting me off.

"Let me finish. So I lied to you and told you I wasn't feeling well or whatever, and Mark came over to work on the science project. That's all I was planning on, I swear. So he came over earlier than I expected him to come, just as I was getting in the shower, so when I got back to our room I was just wearing a towel. And I got back to the room… and oh God, I'm so sorry Sawyer… but I got back and he… he forced himself on me," I said, dropping my voice as I got to the end of the story.

"He raped you," said Sawyer dully. I nodded silently. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know. I tried to, I just couldn't. I'm so…" I began.

"Don't tell me you're sorry again. It's not remotely your fault. Squirt…" he said, compassion in his voice. He put his arms around me and I rested my head on his shoulder as tears began to flow.

"So it might be his," I said. He tilted my face up to look in his eyes.

"Callie, I don't care. This baby could be John's, Hitler's, anyone's and I wouldn't care, because not matter what happens, you're going to be it's mother and I'm going to be it's father, not matter what some test says," he promised.

"You really mean that?" I asked.

"Of course. Now come on, I have something to take care of," he said. He took my hand and helped me up, and my hand stayed tucked in his while we walked out to the parking lot and into his car.

Neither of us said anything as he drove confidentially back to residential Tree Hill and stopped in front of a modest red brick house.

He stared at me for a moment before locking all the doors and climbing out of the car.

A second before the door opened, I realized what he was about to do and winced slightly.

As Mark Delaurier came to the door, Sawyer's right arm flung out and punched him squarely in the nose. Before Mark could retaliate, he was down on the ground, Sawyer viciously punching his face. Blood began to spurt out of his nose. Sawyer kneed his groin, and Mark yelled in pain, meeting my eyes as he did so. I winced and looked away.

By the time Sawyer was finished Mark was curled up on the grass, groaning and bleeding.

"Thank you," I said softly, once Sawyer had gotten back into the car.

"I didn't just do it for you, I did it for both of us. And I'm sorry if you think I've been pressuring you, I didn't mean…" he said awkwardly.

"It's okay. I'll let you know when I'm ready," I said.

"Good. How far along do you think you are?" he asked, indicating my belly.

"About a month, I guess," I responded awkwardly.

"Cool. So that's what…. July?" he asked.

"Yeah. I don't think I'm going to be able to go to school," I said sadly.

"I hope you will. I just got offered a scholarship," he said.

"That's great. I want to go home now," I said suddenly.

"Yeah. Me too," he agreed, as we drove off.