A/N: sorry, long time no update! I've been busy with school, and since I don't have to take my final exams Thursday and Friday, then I have more time to write! Yay! I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed ya'll are great to me! I hope you like this chapter; I hope it's as good as you expect it to be…

Chapter 3: Shadow

(Mandy's POV)

I sat nervously in the florescent light of the doctor's office. The gynecologist's to be exact. I wasn't alone of course; Craig was with me, one of like the 2 other guys who were actually there supporting their wife in this fragile state of physical body and mind. If I didn't have a great guy like Craig, I would possibly die alone with this baby. I tapped my foot my anticipation to hear my name…Gosh, they take forever to call someone up. I was hoping that whenever they told us what we were having we'd have a boy. It's weird, I just want a boy. They're harder to handle, but a joy to raise. Craig had signed me in, so who knows what he signed me in as, with my last name Rodriguez or Manning. It sounds nice, Amanda Manning. It's cute…I don't know, maybe we'll just stay together as friends for our baby, it'd be great if we'd stay together for each other, and get married, have more kids…

"Amanda Rodriguez? Dr. Welling will see you now." The nurse said politely pulling me out of my thoughts.

I tugged on Craig's arm, as I pulled him up, he followed behind me like he was my dog or something, and except he was only my boyfriend or whatever we are I don't even know anymore. We went into the examining room. There was a table sort of like at a regular doctor's office, only in the sitting position, with two stirrups. I was scared, and Craig could tell.

"Don't worry, I'm here for you." Craig said reassuring me, with a kiss on the forehead, and a squeeze of my hand.

"Thanks, I know that it's hard for some guys to come in with a girl here, but you're more admirable than I thought." I said as I gave Craig a peck on the lips.

"I'm glad that people think that, I thought no one cared I existed." Craig said in a fake dramatic tone.

"Yeah, I'm sure our baby cares that you exist" I started to feel a little woozy. I whispered to Craig to help me up, and he pulled out the small step on the side of the table, I stepped up, and laid down.

I laid back and closed my eyes. Craig still held my hand it was comforting. I hated coming to the doctor's, I always was scared of this place, especially a woman's doctor. I knew from experience of other doctor appointments, that the doctor takes forever. I soon fell into a slumber, not being awoken only 15 minutes later by Craig, telling me the doctor was here.

"Hello Amanda! How are we doing today?" Dr. Welling said. (A/N: It's a female doctor, not a male!)

"Oh…you know, just a little bit pregnant." I said jokingly.

"I can see that, so how far along are we?" The doctor asked.

"About 3 months or so." I replied.

"Well, go behind the changing curtain, and put on this gown." The doctor said as she handed me one of those paper gowns to put on.

-5 minutes later-

"Ok Amanda please put your legs up on the stirrups, and if daddy wants, he can hold your hand during this." Dr. Welling said as Craig immediately grabbed my hand.

"Now, let's just put this jelly on your belly and do an ultrasound on your baby, just to let you know, it'll be a little cold." Dr. Welling said, as I got goose bumps as soon as she put it on me.

"Wow, that is cold, I have chills now!" I said as I shivered, feeling a bit more comforted as Craig tried to make my arm warmer.

"Alright, let's start" She said as she put the remote on my belly. "There's your baby." She said as she pointed to the screen. "That's odd" She said, I immediately became worried.

"What's odd?" I said in a panic.

"I hear 2 heart beats. Amanda, Craig, congratulations, you are going to be the proud parents of twins!" Dr. Welling exclaimed.

Everything rushed in my head, I turned to see Craig beaming at the fact of our twins, then his face suddenly changed, as all I heard was a thud, and he was on the ground. I giggled at the fact of how stereotypical Craig was being right now. Dr. Welling reached into a drawer to get something.

"Don't worry, this happens a lot, he just needs some smelling salt, and he'll be back to normal," She said as she wafted the salt beneath Craig's nose. He suddenly woke up, and then stood up.

"Am I hearing things? Did she just say we're having twins?" Craig asked confused while rubbing his head.

"Yeah, she did, it would explain why I've felt so horribly lately!" I said still beaming from the news.

"Alright Amanda, everything seems fine here, would you like to know the sexes before I clean you up?" she asked. I turned to Craig who had a smile of delight as in to tell her yes, I immediately nodded. "Let's see, I see a little girl, and a big boy." Dr. Welling said with an encouraging smile.

"Wow, two children…that'll be…interesting." Craig said mouth a gaping.

Soon there after, Dr. Welling cleaned me up, and scheduled me for a follow up in a month. Craig opened the door for me whenever we got to his car, and made sure every inch of my body was in before he shut the door. I can tell that he'll be acting differently from now on. We drove off, in excitement, talking about baby names, baby clothes, all that fun stuff. It finally hit me, we'd be parents in 6 months, and still in high school, this is going to look so bad on my part. As long as mother forgives me in the long run, it'll be fine. I arrived at Craig's, I really don't spend much time at my house, just grab clothes to stay over Craig's, daddy doesn't notice much as long as someone is watching me. We walked in to see Joey, Caitlin, and Angie watching TV on the couch.

"We have some news, Mandy, would you like to do the honors?" Craig said.

"The babies are fine…" I trailed off, only seeing Joey's face. "In August, we will be the proud parents of twins, a boy and a girl!"

"I'm going to be an aunt! Yay!" Angie exclaimed, as she nearly pummeled Craig.

"Congrats you two!" Joey said as he patted Craig on the back, and hugged me.

"It's so amazing you two will bring in two children together." Caitlin said as she hugged us both.

"May I use the phone? I need to call Emma." I said as I walked away.

I waited as the phone rang after two rings, she finally picked up

"Hey Emma, it's me Mandy."

"Hey, what's up? How was the appointment?"

"A little scary, but all good."

"So! What's the news?"

"It's a girl, and a boy."

"WHAT!"

"Yep, I'm going to have twins!"

"Congrats! I'm so excited!"

"So are we…so are we…" I finished as we engaged in another conversation, and then soon after finished talking.

-Later that night-

Later that night, Craig and I excused ourselves early from the table to go to bed. Seriously go to bed. We didn't go to bed right away of course. We got ready for bed, and laid there for a while, just holding each other. We thought about how great it'd be to have a real family.

"This is so great, this time last year, I was merely an orphan, now I'm starting my own family." Craig said in astonishment.

"I know what you mean, this time last year I was just a druggie in a rehab center…" I said as I looked down.

"It's all behind us now babe. Our babies are our futures." Craig smiled as he said "our babies"

"Yeah, you're right, we have better things to look forward to…what should we name them?" I asked.

"Could we name our daughter after my mother?" Craig innocently.

"Julia Manning, it has a nice ring to it, only if she gets my mother's first name as her middle name." I said back to him.

"Julia Rose Manning, it's beautiful, like her mother." Craig said as he kissed my cheek.

"Now, the son's name, we'll need time to think…I guess tomorrow's another day huh?" I said to Craig.

"Yeah sweetie, tomorrow's another day…" Craig said as we drifted off to sleep.

(A/N: I hope ya'll liked it! I need help on boy's names, first and middle! I'm counting on ya'll to help me! Review with your ideas, maybe one of your ideas will be in the next chapter…)