Disclaimer: I do not claim any rights to Degrassi, the characters of the series, etc.

Author's Note: Thank you to those who reviewed my story. I really appreciated it. This was my very first attempt at writing a fanfiction, and it felt great to have suchpositive feedback.

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The ride to Emma's house was undoubtedly an awkward one. As the girls sat in the back seat, one trying to comfort the other, Craig couldn't help feeling excluded. He want to be there for Manny and tell her things would get better, but it didn't seem like he had the right. Their history had been a rocky one; far too broken and tattered to ever be mended again.

When they finally arrived, Emma assisted Manny into her basement bedroom. Acting as her usual motherly self, Emma found it best for Manny to take a rest. A little sleep would do her some good. Unsurprisingly, once she laid her head upon the pillow, she dozed of into a peaceful slumber. As Emma emerged through the basement doorway, she turned her attention towards Craig.

"Listen, Craig…thanks for your help. Manny really needed it."

"No problem." he answered back, "I only wish I could have done more."

"You did just enough." she added with a smile, "Here, I'll walk you to your car."

"A-actually, I thought I could stay here. You know, just in case you guys need any help."

"No. It's all right. I think we can manage."

"But I should, just in case anything dangerous happens."

"Like what?" scoffed Emma with a sarcastic tone, "We get sucked into the TV by an evil whirling vortex? It's all right Craig…we'll be just fi…"

But Craig stopped her short of her sentence. In an almost pleading tone he spoke, "Emma, please. J-just let me stay here."

A look of suspicion came over Emma, "Why do you want to stay so badly?"

"Honestly?" he asked. When she nodded as a reply, he answered, "I just want to be here for Manny."

"But why Craig?" Emma asked, as the two sat on the kitchen table. An hour had passed from their earlier conversation. After his incessant requests, Emma decided it would do no harm for him to stay, but she wouldn't let him without further looking into his reason for wanting to be there for Manny. "Why is it that you care all of a sudden? You and Manny got together and broke up, got together and broke up, got together and broke up over and over again. For a while now you and her have been doing pretty good, from what I can tell. You moved on…well, stayed…with Ash, and she moved on to JT and Spinner. She went through such a hard time trying to get over you, and trying to forget about the abortion…"

She briefly stopped at the sight of seeing Craig cringe at that painful word. Abortion.

"You left her when she needed you most." she continued solemnly, " You broke Manny's heart. You broke my best friend's heart. Why do you want to break it again?"

"I don't." Craig replied offensively.

"Well that's what it always leads to with the two of you. When Ashley comes back from England…"

"She's not coming back." he said quietly.

"She's not?…Is that why you've all of a sudden come back for Manny?" Emma's voice began to grow louder. "Because perfect little Ashley isn't coming back? Because you can't have your first pick! "

"She wasn't my first pick!" Craig yelled, rising from his seat.

"If she wasn't, then why did you go back to her! If you even remotely cared about Manny, you would have stayed with her!"

"I wanted to!" he answered back angrily. Craig began pacing back and forth. "I-I really wanted to, but I couldn't bring myself to…not even when she was my first choice."

"Please, Craig…" Emma pleaded, the volume of her voice becoming quieter, " Please explain this to me, because I really don't get it."

"Look…" he began, "When I first got caught in the whole me, Ashley, Manny thing…I really did not know who to choose. But then after a while, Manny gave me an ultimatum. She couldn't take all the lying…all the cheating. She didn't want to be involved in that anymore. It was either her, or Ashley. I couldn't choose, so… she stopped seeing me."

Emma stayed silent, desperate to hear the whole story.

"But for that short time I wasn't with her, I couldn't do anything. I just kept thinking about how I didn't have her anymore. How I couldn't choose, and how I lost her." He paused, as if trapped in a recollection, " Even when I still had Ash, I wasn't happy. When I'd see Manny, I did feel happy, but when I'd try to talk to her, she'd always try to ignore me. When she did talk to me this one time, I ended up making her cry. I couldn't stand to see her cry. I wanted to do anything to keep her from feeling hurt…cause I cared about her."

"But you didn't care enough to choose her." Emma said, in a judging tone.

"You're wrong. I did care. I cared enough, that I came to a decision that Manny was the most important thing to me. I did choose her. I told her. I told her it was her that I wanted to be with. Not Ashley."

"But then what was all of that drama during the Christmas pageant? If you already broke up with Ashley, then why did she and Manny dump you?"

"Because…I don't know. Because I was stupid. See…for Christmas, Ash gave me this guitar passed down from her grandpa, uncle… something like that. It was a vintage beauty. It played perfectly. But the thing is, she gave it to me just as I was about to break the news to her. When she gave me the guitar, I…I guess couldn't let go it. If I broke up with Ash right then, she'd take back the guitar. So I told myself I'd break up with her later on, so I'd get to keep it longer."

"What a gentleman." Emma scoffed.

"Just stop it." Craig said aggravated, "Do you want to hear the rest or what?" Emma sighed and gave a nod, "But obviously, things didn't go so well. Both of them found out that I'd lied. I lost the guitar…but more importantly, I lost Manny…again. For a while nothing happened, except for her hating my guts, but then she found out she was…she was pregnant, and with my kid. When she told me, at first I was a little scared. I mean, who wouldn't be? But…but then I realized it was okay. It was better than okay. We were gonna have a family. It was exciting for me and for Manny. I was gonna be a dad Emma. I was gonna be a dad!"

Emma couldn't help but give a small sympathetic smile at his enthusiasm.

"But then…she…decided to have…" Craig struggled on his words, "she decided to have an abo…abor… Well, you know. And I couldn't handle it."

" I remember." Emma spoke silently, with a vague sign of tears in her eyes.

"I was angry. Can you blame me? Afterwards, whenever I saw Manny, I just kept thinking about what we lost. After that, I couldn't see how we could ever be together. But after a while of being angry, I realized that what she did, she tried to do for our own good. I still think what she did wasn't the best way to go, but that's all she could do, I guess. We were teenagers. Hell, we still are! How could we manage to take care of a child? But I didn't see that. Not until it was too late. By then, she'd started going out with JT. I did the only thing I could do, and I went back with Ashley. Soon, she'd started going out with Spinner, but after he confessed about the prank on Rick, she wouldn't have anything o do with him. And just to let you know, all this time, I haven't stopped thinking about her. I wanted to be with her, but I was afraid she wouldn't take me back. Not after I had abandoned her."

"And that's why you want to be here for her now." Emma said, coming upon a revelation, "After she got the…you know, you didn't stay with her. You weren't there for her. Now that she's going though this problem, you want her to know that you're here."

"And that I still care about her."

Just then, the sound of footsteps were heard coming from the basement. With a blanket draped around her shoulders, Manny emerged, looking better than when they had arrived. Emma and Craig looked at her, hoping her spirits were in better shape. Just as Emma was about to ask her how she was, Manny quietly spoke up.

"Listen. Emma, Craig. Thanks for helping me out today. At school. Here. Everything. I really, really don't know what I would have done without you two. Plus Darcy of course. And Craig…" she directed her attention towards him, "Thanks. Thanks for standing up to me in the halls. I really appreciated it."

"It was no problem. No problem at all." he answered back.

For several moments, they stood silently, an awkward pause looming in the air. Emma, detecting the slight discomfort between them, decided to break the quiet that had befallen the room.

"So, Manny. Now that you're feeling better, are you still up for that Friday night movie marathon?"

"Sure," Manny said, with a sincere smile spread across her face. "I could really go for some upbeat movies right about now."

"And Craig could join us." Emma added, "Right Craig?"

"Ugh… sure, that is, if it's all right with you." he said, directing it towards Manny.

"Sure. I'd really like that." she smiled back.

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I hopedyou enjoyed this chapter.I'd really appreciate your feedback. Thanks!