Title: Falling Through

Author: alienangel19852003

Summary: Phil and Keely are best friends, and they've been that way for three years. Despite the fact that both of them want to be so much more. Keely decides to go out with someone else just to shake Phil up so that he'll admit his feelings, it ends up scarring the both of them more than they can ever imagine. The secret they have to live with ends up bringing them closer than ever.

Rating: M, rape, violence, teen partying, teen pregnancy.

Disclaimer: I do not own POTF, I cannot stress that enough. Title comes from Over My Head (Cable Car) by the Fray.

Author's Note: Keely has one really kind of racy line…it's more of a slip of the tongue than anything. Just a bit of warning the next chapter will have an M rated ending.

"Forget your high society I'm soaking it kerosene"

It had been a month since they'd brought Cadence Noelle home and inducted her into the Crazy Bunch. Keely's birthday had come and gone, she was now eighteen. Keely slipped effortlessly into the Mommy role. She found it surprisingly easy. She effortlessly adjusted to the two am feedings and the lack of sleep Phil was a big help with everything. She didn't know how he did it between nearly a full load of courses at school and working two jobs.

She suspected replicates were involved but she didn't say anything. Barb and Lloyd were the quintessence of doting grandparents; already well on their way to spoiling Cadence rotten. Keely's own father was making an effort, he'd come by to visit her after she'd brought Cadence home before he had to go back to LA for business and he'd sent over a ton of designer baby clothes for Cadence.

Her mother however, was another story entirely, she'd been calling Keely non stop for the past two weeks. Keely hadn't answered any of her calls she was happy with her life, and talking to her mother would just bring up more issues than it would resolve. She sat contemplating talking to her mother as she fed Cadence.

Phil walked into the apartment as she was doing this.

"Whoa ho! Peepshow…" Phil said averting his eyes.

Keely blushed and pulled the blanket up over her breast and Cadence's head.

"Sorry, didn't think you'd be home so early," she said, "Bad day?"

She took in his appearance, he was dressed like a pirate once again and sopping wet.

"Only a little horrible. Sam Thornton's mother thought it would be really cool to put a plank over the pool and Sam thought it would be fun to make me walk it and then push me off it." Phil told her as he started to remove his wet clothes.

"I'm sorry sweetie." Keely said.

"The only good news is they are seriously considering making me assistant manager." Phil said.

"That's awesome!" Keely said.

"It really is, I'm going to be doing all the same stuff but actually getting paid more to do it."

"Don't forget the fancy smancy title." Keely said.

"Maybe now I can just pick up a few hours on the weekends at the hardware store." Phil said.

"I don't feel right about you working so hard just to take care of our family. I should get a job." Keely said.

"I love taking care of you two. You have so much going on right now, you have to take care of Cadence, not to mention all the correspondence work you have to do from school." Phil said.

"I just feel like you're doing all the work." Keely said.

"You totally run this garage, you do all the laundry…you cook…sort of…and you keep this place spotless. I know you want to work, I'm not trying to be all chauvinistic about things but it's not really the best time for you to work." Phil said.

"I love you...you know that right? And I'm really proud of everything you're doing for us." Keely said.

"I love you too Keel, I'm going go take a shower. I have to be back at the Country Club in about two hours. We can hang out for a bit." He said.

"That would be nice." She said.

When he got out of the shower she had finished feeding and burping Cadence and had her successfully sleeping in her crib.

"So…" Keely said standing up and walking over to him.

"So…" he said toweling off his hair, "You get Cadence to go to sleep?"

"Yeah…" she smiled.

He looked so cute standing there in his work clothes a baby blue polo and khaki slacks. She wanted to kiss him so badly, but she needed to talk to him first.

"Phil, she's been calling again." Keely blurted, it was not what she intended to say, but it was something to get her mind off Phil's eyes, his lips, his shoulders and his arms that she wanted so desperately to be hold her.

"Who's been calling?" He asked.

"My mom." She told him.

"Oh…"

"I don't know what to do. Should I meet her for lunch?" Keely asked.

"Do you want to?" he asked.

"Yeah I do. But I don't want to deal with all the drama that comes with the whole talking to my mom package."

"It's up to you. Now that Cadence is born, you can begin to deal with the issues with your mother. There's a lot you might want to say to her." Phil told her.

"Alright, I'll meet her for lunch only if you come with me." She said.

"Okay." He agreed.

She smiled before hugging him, "Thank you so much," she whispered in his ear.

She just took him in the way he felt the way he smelled the way his hands caressed her back. When he finally let go of her they locked eyes.

"Phil…" Keely started.

Phil took a deep breath and tried to compose himself, it was hard being around Keely sometimes in more ways than one. The way she looked at him for one, she looked at him with so much want in her eyes, and he knew it was for him. The thought made him shudder. The waiting game was killing him.

"Keely, I don't know how long I can do this…" he whispered.

"What are you saying?" she said.

He saw her frightened expression, "No, it's not that…I need to be with you…completely."

"I need you in me too." She whispered.

They both blushed when they realized what she'd said.

"Keely, you're still healing and you know I want us to be married before we make love."

"I know…but you…you feel so good." She said rubbing his shoulders, "You smell amazing. And I want you so much I've been fighting my feelings for a long time."

"Me too Keel." He said leaning in to smell her hair, it always smelled like some kind of tropical fruit.

"I was afraid you wouldn't want me anymore after all the weight I gained, but I know how you feel about me isn't contingent on how I look, but it's about who I am." She said looking away.

"Keely, I will always want you." He said placing his hands on her hips.

He loved the way her figure had changed; she had lost most of the weight from her pregnancy, only a few pounds remained. She looked more womanly her hips had more of a curve than before and her breasts were fuller.

She smiled before leaning in to kiss him; it was one of the few stolen kisses they'd shared since Cadence was born. With him working all the time and going to school the rest of the time he spent at home was helping Keely take care of Cadence.

She broke off the kiss, "I need to talk to you about something,"

"Anything…" he panted, still dazed from the kiss.

"I think that since Cady over there made her appearance a little earlier than expected, maybe we should move up the wedding say…next month." Keely said.

"The vineyards are pretty in March." She added, "And my dad is taking care of the bill."

"Let's do it." He smiled.

Prepping for the wedding was intense; there were the flower arrangements and everything. Lunch with her mother had gone better than she'd expected even though she knew her mother was drinking again. She'd reluctantly agreed to allow her mother to help out with the wedding planning.

Keely was at the bridal store waiting for her mother to arrive, her mother was always notoriously punctual she knew the alcohol was definitely to blame.

"Keely…" Mandy said as she stumbled up the street.

"Mom?" Keely asked.

"Sorry, I'm late I walked up here from a French restaurant down the block where I was having lunch." Her mother smiled.

Keely seriously doubted her mother had had anything to eat.

"Mom, do you want me to take you home? We can do this some other time if you're not feeling well–"

"I'm fine let's go get you a dress."

Keely sighed; she decided to let this fiasco play out. She figured they could get through this, she knew her mother was going to try to turn her into her own personal Barbie doll again.

Keely was not pleased with any of the expensive traditional dresses her mother was trying to get her to pick.

"This is your wedding don't you want it to have some class? You were a mother at seventeen, don't you think you want this day to take away some of the stigma from that, at least you are getting married." Mandy was pretty much talking to herself Keely refused to be hurt by what was coming from her mother.

"I want to have cake at my wedding I don't want to dress like one, all this white all these layers, it's just not what I'm looking for." Keely said.

"I think I have something you'll like," Mrs. Burke the owner of Pickford's only bridal store said going into the back and returning with a simple elegant crème colored lace dress.

Keely instantly took a liking to the simplicity of the dress. She really wanted her wedding to be simple and beautiful. She wanted it to be just about her and Phil.

"I like that." Keely said.

Keely took the dress into the dressing room and slipped it on. Gazing at her refection she admired the sleeveless lace dress. It hugged her frame showing off the tiniest hint of cleavage and it hugged her curves making it just as sexy as it was simple.

She stepped out of the dressing room, "This is the one." She told her mother.

"Don't you want to try on the other gowns?" her mother asked.

"No…I've tried on half the store already, this is the one I want."

"I think it looks lovely," Mrs. Burke said.

"Oh what do you know…? I don't see you working in LA as a fashion consultant." Mandy snapped.

"Mom!" Keely said, "Mrs. Burke, I'm sorry, my mother isn't well, well." Keely said.

"I'm the only one who wants this wedding to be a social event that no one will forget." Mandy said.

"Mom! It's not some social event! It's my wedding. It's not about all this pomp and circumstance. It's about me and Phil joining our hearts forever. It's shouldn't be about some poufy dress!" Keely said.

"Keely, I want your wedding to be perfect. The pinnacle of sophistication. This is something a farmer's wife would wear." Mandy said pointing to the dress.

"Maybe I don't want things to be perfect and sophisticated, maybe it shouldn't be something for the society pages. I just want to be happy. And I think I can do that with out dressing like a damn wedding cake." Keely said.

"Keely…"

"No, Mom! No, this is my life either you accept me for who I am or you leave me alone." Keely said.

"I just want the best for you."

"The best doesn't mean the most expensive or the most ornate. It means the best fit for me. What makes me happy not what makes you happy. This is about me." She told her mother.

"Keely, I've tried my best to be a good mother to you. You should be happy I still speak to you the way you've shamed this family."

"What family?" Keely asked, "I'd like to pretend that it's the alcohol that's making you talk this way, but I know it's you." Keely said going over to the register.

"Forget your high society, if you want someone else to play dress up and make into you some show piece, don't call me. I'm done." Keely said walking out still wearing the dress.

She took a deep breath when she got outside on the sidewalk, with that she let go of everything she'd held on to. It was with that breath she gave up on her mother, it didn't hurt as badly as holding on the elision that things would ever be okay. She'd got the dress she wanted, but realized she'd left her clothes.

She went back in the store blushing, and she headed for the dressing room not making eye contact with her mother. She put on her clothes, got a bag for the dress and walked out again, heading for home. She felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, she'd tried everything to make things work with her mother. She was at peace with things.