After Noelani leaves Lahela calls Walter to come over. She lets him, and awkwardly offers him a refreshment which he declines. He offers her a crooked smile.
"Your place is nice. I'm glad I actually made it inside this time."
"I owe you an apology," she begins.
"For what?"
"Acting aloof."
"I know you have reasons, even if I'm not clear on what they are," he admits as he takes a seat next to her.
"I could tell you, but it is easy if I just show you."
"Okay," he nods in agreement.
She carefully places his hand against her abdomen. He furrows his brow trying to synthesize what he could possibly be feeling. He swallows hard.
"Why is your stomach so hard? Is there something wrong with it? I think I felt something move."
"There is no easy way to put this, so I'll just spit it out. I'm pregnant."
"What?!"
"You know that magical night that you wanted to talk about?"
"Yes."
"It was more than magical."
"I… what are you saying?"
"Our DNA has combined to produce another human being who is currently trapped in my womb."
He wipes his sweaty palms on the leg of his shorts, "You, and I… we…" his voice cracks as he points, "There is a baby in there? We made a baby together?"
"That is correct."
"Oh."
"I realize that you probably aren't ready for a baby."
"I'm just really caught off guard," his heart sinks.
"You're not the only one."
"Lahela that was five months ago. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"I didn't think it was the kind of news to be shared over the phone."
"And the last month?"
"I can't get past the feelings of shame that I have. I don't make mistakes. I have completely altered the trajectory of my life. I feel like a disappointment. My parents poured everything it to me, and how have I repaid them? I am a pregnant seventeen year old. I will have a child before I can legally vote, join the military, or drink."
"I pushed you…" he tries to reason with her.
She shakes her head, "No, you didn't. It was a mutual decision."
He allows his hand to press itself against her stomach. He feels movement beneath his hand that feels like little more than a gas bubble.
"This might be a detour, but I don't think it's fair to call it a mistake," Walter insists.
"I plan to see this through no matter how difficult it is."
"I hope that you know I'm not going anywhere."
"There is no guarantee that things will work out between us."
"I never had a dad, so if you think for a second that you're going to keep me from showing up you're out of your mind."
"This is going to be more unpredictable than any wave. Raising a human being will be more dangerous than performing a tracheostomy in the field."
"Even if you and I aren't together we will make this work. I promise you that. We are both team baby, and the rest of the chips will fall wherever they may."
She pulls a sonogram picture out from behind the couch cushion, "This is what she currently looks like, if you're wondering."
He stares at the 3-D image of the unborn baby. The worry lines on his face fade into a smile, "She looks like you."
"We'll see. She's definitely got my nose."
"Lahela, what did your parents say?"
"Nothing. They don't know."
"When are you planning on telling them?"
She shrugs, "At her medical school graduation."
A few weeks later Lahela wakes up on Saturday morning, and pads towards the kitchen for a drink of water. She finds her mother sitting on her couch. She furrows her brow, and stops dead in her tracks.
"What are you doing here? It's six o'clock in the morning, on a Saturday."
"It seemed like the reasonable thing to do."
"Break into my condo?"
"I didn't break in. I used the spare key you gave your dad."
"Why are you here?"
"I couldn't sleep," Clara admits.
Lahela glances at the throw at the foot of her couch. "How long have you been here?"
"Three hours."
"What?! You broke in here while I was sleeping?"
"Again, I didn't break in."
"Why are you here, invading my privacy?"
"Because you walk the other direction every single time you see me."
"Are you trying to catch me doing something?"
"No. I am just trying to figure out why you have been avoiding me like the plague."
"Mom…"
"And when I stumbled into your room, after mistakenly wandering into your empty guestroom, last night it was pretty clear why you've been avoiding me."
Lahela swallows hard, "I can explain."
Clara continues, "I was suffocating you, and I refused to let you have the space you so desperately needed. All you wanted was your freedom, and I couldn't see it. I pushed you too hard, and now you've moved out, and try your best to avoid me because I'm too much. Lahela, I'm sorry."
"I needed space to grow into adulthood."
"Haven't you had enough space? Don't you want to come home?"
"I can't. Mom…" she takes a seat on the couch at the opposite end of her mother.
"I realize that me telling you that you couldn't go to Australia drove a wedge between us. I know that you are a responsible human being. Selfishly all I could see was you throwing all of your hard work away from teenage hormones. It wasn't my call, and I realize I backed you into a corner. I never should have put you in that position. I had no reason to doubt you."
"Well this is awkward."
"We don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to. I can make you breakfast if you want. Would you accept it as a token of apology on my part?"
Lahela groans, "This is going so much worse than I could have imagined."
Clara furrows her brow, "My apology?"
"The truth of the matter."
"What do you mean?"
Lahela runs her fingers through her hair, and contemplates her next move.
"Can't we just hug, and make up?" Clara moves in. She awkwardly wraps her arms around Lahela, in their seated position on the couch, before she can be stopped. Lahela's heart races as the rounded edges of her abdomen intercept the hug before the rest of her body does. Clara freezes mid-hug as Lahela tries to wriggle away. As Clara releases her from her embrace her face tells Lahela everything that she needs to know. Clara doesn't stop invading her personal space. In utter silence she yanks up the hem of Lahela's shirt. She shakes her head in disbelief as she is faced with the gravity of the situation.
