We Used To Be Friends

Chapter Twenty-Six

A/N: Enjoy!

Lucy threw her backpack on the couch and picked up a notepad that was sitting on the coffee table. It was morning and she was trying to leave the apartment before Carter got up. After finding a pen, she started writing him a note.

"You don't need to write me a note. I'm already awake." Carter said, approaching her.

"Oh." Lucy replied. "Ok. Well I'm about to leave." She turned around and saw that he was dressed and had a bag in his hand. Her eyes grew narrow, already knowing the answer to her question before asking it. "What are you doing?"

He looked down at his bag and then up at Lucy. "I'm going with you."

She shook her head. "No you're not."

"Why not?" He asked impatiently. He wasn't sure why she didn't want him to go with her.

"Well for one, I never invited you." Lucy replied. She put her hands on her waist, not understanding why he wanted to come with her.

"So?" He asked.

"So why do you expect me to let you come along?" She asked.

"Well, I haven't seen your mom in…well over twelve years, and I thought it might be nice to see how she's doing…"

She laughed. "You just want to see my mom?"

He immediately realized what his statement was implying. "I didn't mean it like that…"

She laughed harder. "I know. It's still funny though…in an odd way."

"I thought that since you're telling your mom about the baby and you agreed to let me…"

She interrupted him. "Do you really want to be around my mom when I tell her that I'm pregnant and then announce that you're the father?"

He knew that her mom would undoubtedly be mad at him when Lucy explains that he got her pregnant. Actually, mad wasn't the right word. Blindingly furious might be a better way to describe it, but he simply smiled. "What can I say? I'm a masochist."

She sighed. She had intended on this trip as being a way to escape from Chicago and from the feelings she was starting to acknowledge about her relationship with Carter. Now Carter wanted to go with her. Should she let him? She laughed at the reaction her mother was probably going to have when she told her the news. Maybe having Carter there would be a good idea. Her mom would most likely be so upset at him that she wouldn't be angry with her. After mentally scolding herself for that mean thought, she looked at Carter again. "Well, you have already packed a bag. But what about work?"

"I already took care of that. Dave owes me a favor so he's taking my shift today and I'm using a vacation day for tomorrow." Carter replied.

"You were that confident that I'd let you come with me?" She smiled.

"Well, if you didn't let me come with you my back-up plan was to follow you down there." He explained. "So does that mean I can come?"

"I don't know why you'd want to, but sure." She shrugged. "I guess it's ok."

"Great. We can take my jeep if you want." He offered. "And I'll drive."

"Ok." She relented, picking up her backpack and heading out the door with him.

The three-and-a-half hour trip to Indianapolis was delayed into a four-hour trip when they got stuck in heavy traffic, but they soon reached their destination. "It's the third house down on the left." Lucy instructed as Carter drove down the street. She was nervous now that they were so close to her house. Nervous about what her mother would say about her pregnancy, and nervous about what she would say about Carter's role in this. Her mother's opinion about Carter had changed dramatically during the past twelve years. She no longer thought of Carter in a positive light. Maybe that was partially Lucy's fault for sharing her anger about Carter's abandonment with her mother. She shoved those thoughts into the back of her mind.

He stopped in the driveway of the third house down on the left and took a look at the house. It was a two-story red brick house with a wrap-around porch. He especially liked the swing that was hanging on the porch. It looked like a real warm and comfortable home. "It's nice."

"Thanks. I've always liked it." Lucy smiled. She got out of the jeep and retrieved her backpack. Then she headed up the driveway to the front door. After taking a look behind her and seeing that Carter was still at the jeep getting his bag, she rang the doorbell. She could have just used her house key, but decided against it.

"Lucy!" Barbara Knight exclaimed, hugging her daughter tightly. "It's been too long since I've seen you."

"I just saw you last Christmas!" Lucy exclaimed.

"I know, but that was two months ago." Barbara smiled as she let go of her daughter. "How are you?"

"Fine." Lucy smiled. She saw her mother's smile turn into a look of confusion and knew that Carter must be standing behind her. She turned around to see that she was right; Carter was standing behind her. Turning back around to face her mother she announced, "guess who came with me!"

"Carter. It's been a while since I've seen you." Barbara commented coolly. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, and you?" Carter smiled, already getting the feeling that her mother didn't like him much. In the past, her mother had always been nice to him. This new dislike concerned him. If she didn't like him now, how was she going to react to their announcement later on?

"Fine." Barbara nodded. The excitement over seeing her daughter was promptly replaced with curiosity about why her daughter had chosen to bring Carter home with her. She had been right in her assessment of the situation when Lucy first called. There was something going on in Lucy's life that she wasn't telling her mother, and it somehow involved Carter. She wasn't sure yet if that was a good or a bad thing. "Please, come in." She motioned for them to come inside and then shut the door once they had entered the house.

Carter looked around the living room, admiring the décor. The décor wasn't anything fancy, but it was classy and comfortable at the same time. The house felt warm and welcoming, something his family's house never felt. He sat down on the soft, white couch next to Lucy.

"Can I get either of you anything to drink?" Barbara asked, still standing up.

"No thanks." Carter and Lucy replied in unison.

"I was working on lunch before you showed up. Are you hungry?" Barbara asked. She noticed that they both nodded their heads. "I'm sorry that we're just having sandwiches. I wasn't aware we were having company."

"That's ok mom. Carter won't mind eating sandwiches." Lucy smiled.

"Yeah, I love sandwiches." Carter interjected.

Barbara looked at Lucy then at Carter before settling her gaze once more on her daughter. Something was definitely going on between them. The looks on their faces reminded her of their childhood. Whenever they were about to get in trouble, they always had this distinct look on both of their faces. She wondered what kind of trouble they were in this time, and she also wondered how long it would take them to tell her about it. She got up, heading towards the kitchen. "Lucy, would you mind helping me in the kitchen?"

"Sure." Lucy agreed. "I'll be right there." She waited until her mom was safely in the kitchen before turning to Carter. "She knows something's up." She whispered.

"How do you know that?" he whispered back.

"She's my mom. I can read her like a book." Lucy explained. "She's suspicious. When should we tell her?"

"We? We get to tell her?" Carter asked. He was surprised because he thought that Lucy was going to be telling her mom alone. "I thought you'd be doing that by yourself."

She swatted his arm. "Yes we! I'm not telling her alone. So? When?"

"Do you want to do it over lunch?" Carter asked.

Lucy nervously bit her lip. "I guess so. We might as well tell her and get it over with."

He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It will be fine."

She gave him a small smile. "Thanks. I better go help her with lunch." She got up from the couch and entered the kitchen. "So what can I do to help?"

"Can you get the drinks ready?" Her mom asked as she finished making the sandwiches.

"Sure." Lucy agreed, heading over to the refrigerator.

"So why didn't you tell me that you were brining Carter with you?" Barbara asked after a few moments of silence.

"I didn't know he was coming until this morning." Lucy replied.

"Why did he come?" Barbara asked, trying to get some information out of her daughter.

Lucy noticed that she had poured all of the drinks and noticed a way to dodge her mother's last question. "I'm going to put these drinks on the table."

While Lucy had been in the kitchen helping her mother with lunch, Carter had been wandering around the living room, looking at the many pictures of Lucy that lay scattered about. There were a lot of pictures of her as a little girl and there were also some of her during her high school years. It amazed him that he could remember when most of the pictures were taken. There was one of Lucy on her sixth birthday, one of Lucy and Carter when there were in their third grade play, and many other candid shots of her childhood. He took a look at her high school graduation photo and smiled when he saw the huge smile on her face. She was throwing her cap in the air like Mary Tyler Moore. For some reason, Lucy had always had this strange fascination with throwing her hat up like Mary Tyler Moore. He had never understood it, but she always got a kick out of pretending to be her. His eyes finally settled on a framed picture that was sitting on the mantle of the fireplace, slowly picking it up. Lucy looked to be maybe seventeen or eighteen in the picture. With her golden hair locked behind her head in a ponytail and her face unmarred by make-up, she looked gorgeous. She had her arms wrapped around her mother's neck from behind and was grinning like a Cheshire cat. Her mom was also smiling and it would have been obvious to even a stranger that the two women were very close.

Lucy appeared next to him and cringed. "Don't tell me you're looking at that picture! Of all the pictures you could look at, you have to choose that one? I look horrible in it." She complained, shaking her head.

He had been so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed Lucy approach him. "You could never look horrible to me. You've always been and always will be beautiful." He told her, placing the picture back on the mantle.

She looked at him, speechless because of what he had just said. It was statements like that which scared her immensely.

He sensed her discomfort over his words and decided to change the subject. "Is lunch ready?"

"Yeah." She nodded, not really paying attention to his question. He smiled at her and then continued on to the dining room. After taking a moment to collect her own thoughts, she followed him.

Halfway into lunch, Barbara knew that her daughter was trying to avoid all of her questions and frowned. The last thing she wanted was to see her daughter get hurt again, especially by Carter. She remembered how long it took Lucy to get past her anger and hurt over Carter's actions, and wondered if Lucy was completely over her anger and hurt yet. The two of them seemed to have gotten their friendship back, but had Lucy completely forgiven him yet? Plastering a new smile on her face, she sat her glass of iced tea back on the table. It was a long, mahogany table that could seat up to six, although they only needed three seats for this meal. She had noticed earlier that Carter and Lucy were once again sitting next to each other and chose to sit at the head of the table.

"This is good." Carter commented.

"Yeah, it is." Lucy echoed.

"I'm glad you think so." Barbara replied.

Lucy knew that she had to tell her mom what was going on eventually, and decided that now was as good of a time as any. Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself. "Mom, I have something that I need to tell you."

"I knew that something was going on. Lucy, you know that you can tell me anything, right?" Barbara asked.

"I know." Lucy replied, not looking her mother in the eyes. "Um, I don't know how else to say this…but I'm pregnant and Carter is the father." As soon as she said it, she took a drink of her iced tea and waited for her mother's reaction.

Barbara was stunned. "What?" She exclaimed.

Lucy looked down at her plate. "I'm pregnant."

Barbara stared at the corner of the dining room. This wasn't what she had expected her daughter to tell her. She thought maybe Lucy was going to announce that she was dating Carter. She never in a million years thought that Lucy would be announcing that she was having a baby. She was still practically a child herself! She sat there thinking about what Lucy had said and now understood why Carter had decided to come along with her. At least he had the manners to be here to support Lucy while she told her mother.

When her mom didn't say anything for a while, she nervously looked over at Carter and then back at her mom. "Mom? Aren't you going to say anything?" It was very uncharacteristic for her mother to be speechless. Usually her mother would have started yelling by now. In fact, Lucy was starting to think that it would be better if her mother would yell at her. This calm response eminating from her mother was concerning her greatly.

"I don't know what you want me to say Lucy. I never expected you this from you." Barbara finally replied. She stood up from the table and placed her napkin next to her plate. "Excuse me, but I need to go get some air."

Lucy watched her mom leave the house and released a deep breath. "I never thought I'd say it, but I wish she was yelling at me." She threw her own napkin onto her plate, too upset now to eat.

"She's just shocked." Carter told her. "You've finally managed to make her completely speechless."

"I know." Lucy nodded, to upset to enjoy that small victory. "I just hate the fact that I've disappointed her."

He moved his chair closer to hers and let her place her head on his shoulder. "Everything's going to be ok." He told her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

"Don't you ever get tired of being the optimist?" Lucy asked.

"Nope, never." He smiled.