Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long to update, I've been busy lately. But here's the next chapter, I hope you all enjoy it! Thank you SO much for all of the wonderful feedback, it makes me grin and can't wait to write more lol. I could gush more about you guys but I'll shut up and let you get on with the story ;-)

Who in their right mind falls in love with their stepbrother?

Well, I guess then I could also pose the question who in their right mind gets pregnant by their stepbrother?

A little before three months into my pregnancy, I started to show. My normally flat stomach had a small bulge to it. It was easy to hide with a sweatshirt or a slightly oversized T-shirt. It was the beginning of spring, so I could still get away with wearing larger shirts.

Derek became even more protective of me then. He even bought me my own cell phone so I could call him if something was to happen. I guess it made him feel better knowing he had a way for us to keep in touch while we were out doing our separate things.

I was just glad I finally had a cell phone of my own!

After school one day, I was shoving my books into my backpack and Emily questioned me about the new cell phone.

"Mom finally caved and got me one," I lied expertly with a grin.

Emily and I used to try clothes on together all of the time in the mall, but now I felt awkward because I didn't want her to notice my stomach. Plus, I had gone up two pants sizes. So I avoided the mall. Emily became suspicious.

She was going to find out sooner or later.

"This is the hundredth time you've cancelled on me," she said as we walked out into the cool Canadian air. "What is up with you, Case?"

I sighed heavily. I guess it was now or never.

"Fine, I'll tell you," I gave in. "But you have to promise me you won't tell anyone."

Emily's eyes widened, seeing my suddenly serious expression. "I promise, Case."

I bit my lip. How am I going to tell her this?

Maybe I'll just tell her half the truth. Or certain things. Or maybe I'll just…

"What is it?" Emily looked impatient now.

Not knowing any other way to explain it to her, I raised my shirt. "This is the reason why I've been so weird lately."

Emily stared at my stomach. "So….you've gained a bit of weight. It happens to all of us," she shrugged it off like it was no big deal.

I let out a huge sigh. She didn't get it. She was going to make this difficult for me.

"That's not what it is," I said slowly. I looked into her dark eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant."

Emily's jaw dropped. "WHAT!"

I nodded solemnly.

"Why didn't you TELL me this!" she exclaimed. "I'm your best friend!"

"I was scared," I said to her. "I thought you'd…judge me."

Emily shook her head rapidly, her eyes still huge. "No, no, no, Case! Oh my god… you've been dealing with this alone!"

"My family knows…that's it," I said.

"Oh, Case," Emily took me into her arms, hugging me tightly. "You don't have to ever hide things from me. You need support right now."

I felt tears sting my eyes. I didn't expect her to react this way at all.

"Does Sam know?" she asked, still hugging me.

Uh-oh.

I pulled back, avoiding her eyes. "Uh….no." That wasn't a lie.

"Don't you think he should?" Emily sounded concerned.

I rubbed my neck, looking off into the distance. "Uh…" I really wanted to disappear right then and there. Just POOF, into thin air.

Actually, I just wanted to be anywhere other than there at that exact moment.

"Case?" Emily questioned my silence.

Slowly I turned to look at her. "It's…not…Sam's."

Emily looked shocked once again. "WHAT? You have a boyfriend I don't know about!" she looked slightly offended.

"Not really," I looked away again. This was so hard. So, so hard.

"A one night stand?" she gasped.

"No," I shook my head quickly. Definitely not that.

"Does this person…go to our school?" she apparently decided to play a guessing game.

I nodded.

"Do I know him?"

I nodded again.

"That cute new foreign exchange student from France?" she randomly blurted. "Pierre?"

I gave her a strange look. "No."

She looked upward and to the side, squinting her eyes slightly as if thinking very hard.

She was never going to get it.

"It's Derek's," I blurted.

Emily's head snapped towards me. "Derek? As in your stepbrother Derek?"

I winced. "Yeah."

"As in guy I've had a crush on ever since I was little Derek?"

Oh boy.

"Umm…"

"How could you, Casey?" Emily looked pissed and hurt at the same time. "You know I've liked him for forever. I mean… I thought you were my friend!"

"I am," I protested.

"No, you're not," Emily gave me a dirty look and walked off.

I just stood there numbly.

I walked home slowly, a hand pressed against my stomach. What had I done?

As soon as I got home, I ran up to my room. I threw myself onto my bed and began crying. Or more like weeping.

"Case?" I heard Derek over my cries.

I just shook my head, my face still buried in my pillow.

I felt the bed dip as he sat down next to me. I felt his hand rubbing my back. I heard him as me what was wrong. But I just continued crying.

I now had no friends. Emily and Sam were pretty much my only friends. Sam wanted nothing to do with me ever since we broke up, and Emily now hated me.

I sobbed into my pillow while Derek rubbed my back for what seemed like forever. I let it all out. It took me a long time to settle down. My sobs quieted to little hiccups, and I finally took my face out of the pillow, looking up at a concerned Derek. I'm sure I looked like a disaster. A crazy, pregnant disaster.

"I told Emily," I was finally able to get out.

Derek sat back a bit. "What happened?"

"She hates me now," I spat bitterly, wiping my nose.

Derek's eyebrows furrowed. "Why would she hate you?"

I sighed. He was really dense sometimes. "She likes you," I said in a 'duh' way.

"Oh," he realized and looked down at my comforter.

I looked at his solemn expression and stopped. "You…you don't like her do you?"

He looked back up at me. "No!" he said quickly. "I mean, no," he said in a more normal tone. "I mean, I figured she had a crush on me when we were younger, but I thought she was over it."

"No, she's definitely not," I shook my head. "There are a lot of girls at school with crushes on you."

Derek shrugged. "It comes with being popular."

I snorted at his smug tone. "Mr. Popularity."

He smirked. "Don't be jealous, Case."

I stuck my tongue out at him, the mood lightening up.

He chuckled and leaned over. Then, to my surprise, he started tickling me.

"Aughh!" I screamed with laughter. He grinned and continued until I couldn't breathe any longer. When he stopped, I smiled up at him, trying to catch my breath. He bent his head and captured my lips with his. I already was lacking oxygen, but kissed him back eagerly. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he cupped my face in his hands, gently wiping my wet, tear-stained cheeks. He released my lips after a few seconds so I could get some air.

As I breathed, he pushed my hair back from my face, staring at me with a strange expression on his face. It was that expression I had seen before, but so rarely. That one that I couldn't figure out what the emotion was. If I didn't know better, I'd think it was love.

Love. What I was starting to feel for him. What I could never tell him because he didn't feel the same. What I had to keep to myself.

I reached up and traced his lips with my fingertip. He kissed it gently. I bit my lip. He was so…mmm…

"Derek?" Edwin called from Derek's room next door. He was obviously looking for his brother.

Derek snapped out of our mutual trance and his hands left my face. Grr. "Yeah, Ed?"

"Where are you?" he asked.

"I'm in Casey's room," he replied.

Edwin then appeared at the doorway, looking over at the two of us. I bet my cheeks were still red.

"I had a question about…uhh…" he looked at me uneasily.

It was probably some guy thing.

"Ohh… yeah. Okay," he looked over at me. "I'll be back later," he winked at me and I felt my heart flutter. Damn it.

He got up and left with Edwin.

I sat up and tried to collect my thoughts. Here I was, barely sixteen, with no friends, pregnant, and falling in love with my stepbrother. Oookay. Good job, Casey. Just great.

There was a knock on my door and my mother peeped her head in. "Casey?

"Yeah?" I cleared my throat and smoothed my hair back, pushing my thoughts aside.

"You want to come down and help me bake some cookies? Lizzie's class is having a bake sale tomorrow and of course she volunteered me for chocolate chip cookies," she sighed, not looking too thrilled about it.

"Sure," I said, getting up.

She looked at me a bit oddly. "What were you doing just now?"

"Thinking," I sighed.

We walked down the stairs together.

"About anything in particular?" she questioned.

This was definitely not something I wanted to talk about with my mother. "Uh…not really."

In the kitchen, she got out some baking supplies and glanced over at me, clearly waiting for me to continue.

"Emily and I had a bit of a fight," I shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. Even though it definitely was!

Mom handed me a bowl and a mixer. "Oh, I'm sorry, Case. What was it about?"

I bit my lip. "Well… I told her about…you know…the baby." I began mixing ingredients together slowly, not meeting her eyes.

"And she wasn't supportive?"

"No…no, she was supportive about that. She just wasn't very happy about the baby's father," I made sure to keep my gaze down at what I was doing.

"She doesn't like Derek?" my mother sounded surprised. She knew Derek was pretty popular. Especially with the female population.

"That's the problem," I replied slowly. "She likes Derek."

There was a pause and my Mom said, "Oh." I was glad she got it and I wouldn't have to explain any more. She handed me a bag of chocolate chips. "Well…how does Derek feel about her?"

"He doesn't like her," I said quickly. Probably a little too quickly.

"Ah," she made a noise of understanding. "Well, you can't blame her for being a bit hurt."

"I know," I said. "I just feel really bad about it. I mean, she was like my best friend."

"She still is, honey," Mom said wisely and I looked up at her. "She just needs a little time to process things. Things will work out, you'll see."

Even though it didn't actually help, she did make me feel a tiny bit better. "Thanks, Mom," I gave her a smile.

Hopefully things would work out and Emily wouldn't hate me anymore.

I took a plate of cookies and took them into the living room, where Edwin, Lizzie, and Derek were all playing video games. Or, the boys were playing. Lizzie was half-watching, half reading a book.

"Cookies," I announced, setting the plate on the table. I snatched one for myself and sat back on the cushiony chair.

"Sweet!" Edwin grinned and grabbed one, totally dropping his game controller.

"Edwin!" Derek groaned loudly, tossing his own game controller. He glared at him."You just lost us the game."

Edwin just grinned sheepishly, offering his older brother a chocolate chip cookie in truce.

Derek gave him a Look, but grabbed the cookie from him.

"Are these for my bake sale?" Lizzie asked me, taking a cookie for herself.

"Yup," I swallowed a mouthful of cookie. "Well, these are extras."

"Hey, not bad, Case," Derek looked over at me. "You should start making the desserts around here."

I smiled.

"Yeah, I don't really like George's rice pudding," Lizzie made a face.

Derek chuckled. "I have to agree with you on that, kid."

"Me too," Edwin said with his mouth completely full.

Lizzie looked at him strangely. "You always have like three helpings of it, Edwin."

"Doesn't mean I like it," Edwin shrugged and took another cookie.

I finished my cookie and sat back, a hand on my stomach.

"Does the baby like your cookies?" Lizzie asked with a slight smile. I think she was starting to get a bit excited about being an aunt.

I gave her a smile in return and rubbed my stomach. "It seems to."

"Do you think it's a boy or a girl?" Edwin moved closer and peered at my stomach with interest, as if you could see something other than a small bulge.

"It's a boy," Derek answered.

I gave a bit of a chuckle. "We don't know that, Derek."

"Well, it is," Derek seemed convinced.

"And what will you do if it's a girl?" Lizzie asked him.

"Love her just the same," he answered seriously. I felt my eyes well up with tears at that (hey, I was already emotional!). "But, it's a boy," he finished.

"When are you going to tell Marti?" Edwin asked.

"After the baby's born," Derek laughed. We all got a good chuckle out of that.

"Yeah, I mind as well just tell her I'm getting fat or something," I shrugged.

"If she even notices," Lizzie said. "She seems to be in her own little Marti World."

As if on cue, George and Marti walked through the door. Marti was dressed up in a princess gown and holding a wand.

"Smerek!" Marti ran over to Derek, obviously her favorite brother. She jumped on his lap.

"Hey, Smarti," Derek tickled her until she squealed with laughter. I smiled to myself watching them.

"Cookies!" she cheered and reached out, grabbing one so quickly I barely saw her take the cookie. Man, she was good.

As she chomped on her cookie, she rambled about her day at school. I took the nearly-empty plate of cookies back to the kitchen. Then, I stared at the phone. I really, really wanted to call Emily. But I highly doubted that she would talk to me.

I was torn.

Derek strolled into the kitchen, then. "Whatcha doing?" he asked, seeing me just standing there.

"I'm thinking about calling Emily," I told him.

"Ah," he said. "Why not? Give it a shot. She is your best friend."

Surprised that Derek was actually giving good advice, I slowly nodded. "I guess you're right." I picked up the phone.

"Of course I am," he smirked and I gave him a Look as I dialed the phone.

I tried her cell and got her voicemail. "Hey Em… it's Casey. I just…really wanted to talk to you." I didn't know what to say. "Just please call me back. Thanks. Bye." I hung up, feeling really stupid about the message I left.

I looked over at Derek. "That sounded dumb."

He shook his head, taking another cookie. "It was fine."

I sighed heavily.

He leaned over at gave me a kiss on the top of my head. "Just give it a little while. She'll come around."

I nodded half-heartedly. But how long would "awhile" be?