Author's Note: -Nicole collapses- Oh my gosh guys, thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews! They're just the kind of encouragement I need. I'm exhausted from work and have a headache but I'm still posting this next chapter just because you all are so wonderful! So thanks SO much and I really hope you enjoy this! You all rock!
Casey whirled around at her daughter in nervous horror. Oh shit. He's definitely going to know now… she looks just like him.
"Honey, what are you doing up?" Casey asked quickly, gathering Brianna up into her arms as if shielding her from Derek's sight. Like he hadn't already seen her. "It's very late; you should be in bed."
"Heared talking," Brianna mumbled into Casey's shoulder, which her face was smooshed against. Casey finally met Derek's eyes as she cradled her toddler. His eyes were wide and his mouth was gaping open in shock and realisation. No words were coming out of his mouth, and his whole body looked completely stiff.
It was obvious that he had figured out her secret.
"Come on, sweetie," Casey looked away from Derek nervously as she patted Brianna's tangled medium-brown hair. The same shade as Derek's. "Back to bed." She bolted out of the room as quickly as possible.
"Don't want bed," Brianna protested sleepily, her eyes falling shut even as she spoke.
"Alright, baby," Casey gave a small smile at her daughter despite the situation surrounding her.
The one thing she had been dreading ever since she found out she was pregnant.
She nervously lifted the small stick out of the box after reading the instructions. It all seemed so simple, this one little test that would determine her future. All she had to do was pee on the stick and then wait five minutes. Two lines meant positive, one line meant negative. Two lines with child, one line without. Two lines would mean that she was carrying her stepbrother's illegitimate child, and one would mean she wasn't. That the nausea and weight gain was all in her head.
She knew what the outcome would be before she even took the test. But somewhere there was a little bit of hope left in her that she was wrong. That the test would be negative. That it was just a scare that she would chuckle about someday.
The five minutes she had to wait were the longest minutes of her life. She was locked in a tiny cubicle in the large bathroom of her dormitory's second floor. The bathroom used the least, so she could have as much privacy as possible in a place where time to yourself was virtually impossible.
She stared down at the watch on her wrist. Every second felt like an eternity. It seemed like her life was suddenly in slow motion as she waited to see if her life would be forever changed.
As the seconds continued slowly ticking on, she began feeling claustrophobic and her breathing shallowed to the point where she felt like she was going to pass out.
"Stop being so dramatic, Casey," she snapped aloud to herself and tried to focus on simply breathing. She closed her eyes and tried to get herself back into control.
When she opened them again, her eyes immediately focused down on her watch. The five minutes were up.
Biting her lip nervously, she grabbed the stick. And let out a little cry as she found out her fate. And she burst into tears.
Two lines.
She was pregnant.
Casey remembered that she had never been so scared in her life as she was at that moment. And from that second on, she prayed that Derek wouldn't find out that he was actually a father. Because she knew that he wouldn't want his little daughter.
Just like he didn't want Casey.
Why would a playboy partier like him ever want a child so young?
And so she had kept her little Brianna a secret.
Now, that secret had been revealed to the one person she didn't want it to be revealed to. And he was standing there in shock right in her tiny apartment, probably awaiting an explanation.
Casey wanted to hide. Or runaway. But there was nowhere to go, and Derek was blocking her only exit.
Gathering all of her courage, she exited the bedroom slowly and moved back into the small living room. Derek was on the couch, his head in his hands. He looked up when Casey padded into the room, and her cheeks heated at the pained look on his face. He looked as if he had been kicked in the stomach and had all the wind knocked out of him.
"Case…" Derek began hoarsely, as if his whole world had been turned upside-down in a matter of seconds. Which it kind of had. "Why… why didn't you tell me?"
Casey opened her mouth and closed it again, not exactly knowing how to begin. Carefully, she said, "I didn't know how."
Derek looked so completely serious and so unlike himself that Casey could only stare at him, never seeing him this way before.
"I… I have a daughter?" he asked weakly, as if trying to process this major turn of events into his brain. Casey could practically see his mind trying to compute this concept.
Casey nodded slowly. "Her...her name's Brianna."
All at once, Derek's confused, shocked face turned angry. His eyes moved to hers and he glared at her with utter rage. "You're telling me that I have a what… two year-old daughter that you've been hiding from me this entire time!" he burst out.
Casey was taken aback by his sudden 180. "Derek, I…"
"And just WHEN were you planning on telling me this, Casey! When she needed braces? When she needed some money for university? At her wedding!" his face grew red as he spat out those words. "Goddamnit, Casey!"
Suddenly he stopped. In a much lower voice, he realized, "You were never going to tell me, were you?"
Casey looked away from him at that. That was all Derek needed.
"You cold, heartless bitch," he stated in pure disgust as he stood up.
And he slammed the door as he left.
And Casey immediately crumpled down onto the floor, bursting into tears for the first time since that moment she found out she was going to be a mother in that small dormitory bathroom what seemed like so many years ago.
