An- Hey hey everyone! So this was inspired by Jane's rewrite of Suprise Suprise. I figured that this was a great oppertunity to let a little bit of that nasty streak that is so important in Erin for the third story shine through a little bit. Also, in the first story Erin's book 'steps through pregnancy' just kind of randomly appears one chapter, and I felt like writing something that said where it came from in the first place. Enjoy

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Erin sipped her coffee, trying to remember if she had read somewhere that caffeine was bad for pregnant woman.

Not that she particularly cared at the moment; she had been up all night tossing, turning and worrying. Now all she needed was something to wake her up.

She heard the others moving around in other parts of the house, and she was glad that for once they were leaving her alone; Erin was sick of their pitying glances and constant 'are you alright'. Most of all she was sick of Frodo apologizing over and over (as if it was totally his fault).

She heard someone coming into the kitchen and looked up. Niori was coming in, grocery bags in her hands. Niori paused when she saw Erin sitting there, but then smiled and continued all the way in.

"Hey Erin," she said as she put the bags on the counter.

Erin didn't bother replying and only watched Niori unpack various items from the bag.

"When did you have time to go and get these?" Erin asked her, "it's only nine; shouldn't you still be asleep right now?"

"It's only dry stuff," Niori replied with a laugh, "so I picked it up when I went out last night."

Erin just stared at her friend in disbelief; Erin had just announced that she was pregnant two days ago and Niori was out on a date, and that meant probably having sex.

"My parent's anniversary was last night," Niori explained, "I figured that I should make an appearance; the last thing I want to do is give them another reason to bitch about what a horrible daughter I am. So I went, smiled a bit and we all played one big happy family. It ran really late and it was at my place, so I just crashed there. The reason I'm up so early is so I could get out of there."

Now Niori was putting things away and Erin figured she should probably get up and help. Instead she just stayed where she was and took another sip of her coffee.

"Oh," Niori spoke a moment later as she turned, "I got you something."

Erin saw the book that Niori was holding out to her and she grabbed hold of it. It was titled 'Steps Through Pregnancy'.

"I figured you could probably use it," Niori explained with a shrug as she turned back to her packages.

Erin stared down at it and then burst into dark laughter. Niori turned back around, concerned that she had done something wrong.

"How ironic," Erin's cynical voice spoke after her laughter died, "I bought this for you; I don't know if it was the first pregnancy scare or the second. Or maybe I bought it on a whim figuring it was going to happen eventually at the rate you go. But then again, since you're all about the 'other option' it wouldn't have been a wasted after all."

Niori was just staring at Erin in disbelief. She moved her mouth to speak, but even as it moved no noise came out. She was absolutely speechless, not understanding Erin's brutal attack.

After a moment she whirled around, and the colour drained from her face when she realized that everyone else was standing in the doorway and had heard every single word. They were all looking at her with faces ranging from shock to pity. Niori stood there for a painfully long moment, and then she roughly pushed past everyone. A minute later you could hear her car start and gun it out of the driveway.

The minute her shock subsided, Carla turned on Erin.

"How dare you say that to her!" Carla cried in fury, "just because you made a mistake and got yourself knocked up doesn't give you the right to take it out on her!"

"It's the truth and you know it!" Erin countered.

"That doesn't fucking matter and you know it! Niori's here to support you, and then you go and make her feel like a slut, when clearly you're the one who got herself pregnant! She gets that enough from every one else in her life, and doesn't need it from you too!"

Erin's temper deflated and she instantly regretted what she had said; she had no right to judge Niori or any of her actions. Especially when Niori was in no way judging her.

I am such an idiot, Erin thought.

"When she gets back." Carla growled, "you better be there to apologize the minute she walks through that door!"

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Erin waited in the living room, rehearsing what she would say in her head. Carla was still furious with her, and everyone else was avoiding her. She couldn't blame them; with her outburst at Niori, they didn't want to stick around to say what she could snap at them.

Two hours later Erin heard Niori's car pull into the driveway. She took a deep breath, ready to give her well thought out apology the minute Niori passed the living room door.

Except when Niori ripped open the door and charged in, Erin didn't have time to even open her mouth.

"You know what!" Niori screamed when she saw Erin, "I don't have to take any of that shit from you! Yeah, I enjoy sex…why the hell is that such a fucking terrible thing? If I were a guy, people would be impressed with my track record! I'm sexy as hell and fucking good in bed, so men want me…big fucking deal! Only the jealous go and call me a whore because they hate the fact that I can get whatever I want and they can't! Not to mention I make men work for it; I can count on one hand how many true one night stands I've had! Everyone else was in some sort of relationship with, and they had to treat me with respect if they wanted to get me in bed! And it's not like you were the virgin Mary before Frodo!

"And for your information, I'm not 'all about the other option'! I believe that abortion or not is the business of each individual woman, and no else! Just because I think abortion is an acceptable choice doesn't give you any right to judge me! I'm not, but if I was thinking that you were making the stupidest choice of your life by having that kid, how would you like it if I threw that in your face! If I was judging you on whatever your choice happens to be!"

"Niori if you just let me talk for a minute you'd hear me apologizing," Niori faltered at that, "I was a bitch. And I had no right you call you a tramp and run off at the mouth about anything. I'm the one seventeen and pregnant, so saying anything to you is the most hypocritical thing that has ever come out of my mouth. I'm sorry."

"Yeah well…" Niori said, her voice still irritated and suspicious, "…you better be!"

"I am. And I really do appreciate the book. I glanced through it, and there is a lot of really useful information in it."

Niori did seem placated, but Erin threw in an extra 'I'm sorry' just to be sure. That did seem to calm Niori down even more.

"Fine," she grumbled one last time, "but make me feel like a slut again and I will kick your ass."

"And so will Carla and probably even Jane," Erin replied, "so believe me, I won't be doing it."

Niori grumbled one last time and stamped back out into the hall.

"You can all come out now," Erin called when she was sure Niori was out of earshot.

There were a few guilty noises from the kitchen and them everyone appeared in the doorway.

"We just wanted to ensure she didn't attack you," Frodo explained weakly.

"Yeah right," Erin rolled her eyes, "you were all just waiting for a huge blow out."

There were a few more guilty noises.

"Well then," Merry turned to Pippin and spoke, "you owe me."

Pippin grumbled and Erin looked at them both in confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

"We wagered; Pippin bet she'd hit you and I said you'd talk her down."

Erin just threw the book at their heads.

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An- It would have been a filler peice in a chapter somewhere in the grand scheme of things (between chapters 9 and 10 I would imagine). Hope you enjoyed.