Lars ran up the steps two at a time, eager to escape what suddenly felt cramped and dungeon like. He hurried out of the house without so much as a word to Barb, who, in retrospect, had shown a great deal of restraint in wanting to castrate him. Considering she was the guy who'd knocked up her only daughter.

"She's pregnant. Sadie is pregnant." He tested the words, trying to make it seem more real and less like a terrible dream.

"I'm dead! I'm dead, I'm absolutely dead." Lars clawed at his chest as panic rose up in it, making his breathing laborious and shallow. He walked through the suburban neighborhood, it was just after sunset and the street was bathed in the soft yellow light of street lamps. Occasionally he would pass through a bright spot, caused by someone's TV set showing through the front window.

He wandered idly, wanting to go anywhere but home for a little while. Lars had said he needed time to process, the truth was he didn't even know where to begin. He was in high school, he was only kind-of in a relationship with Sadie, and he had fathered a baby.

"Fuck, you really screwed yourself this time." He muttered to himself, jamming his hands in his pockets. "What are you going to tell your parents?" They were not going to take this well, hell, Lars didn't even know how he was taking it.

Was he excited about the baby? Circumstances aside, he wasn't exactly a fan of children. Being an only child with no cousins he wasn't really used to being around them. Had he ever held a baby? Probably not, if he had he couldn't remember it.

"I'm going to be a dad." The words sounded far away and foreign, like someone else's voice was coming out of his mouth. "Shit." He sat down hard on the curb.

"It's okay sweetheart." Barb poured two mugs of hot chocolate as her daughter nervously paced.

"I mean he actually asked me if it could be somebody else's baby." Sadie threw one of the couch throw pillows across the room.

"Could it?" Barb asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.

"No!" Her daughter shouted, angry with the very suggestion. "What am I, a whore? Everybody just thinks I'm running around fucking…"

"Nobody thinks that." Barb put her hands up in surrender. "I just wanted to check."

"I told you it was his." Sadie protested, not satisfied with her mother's apology.

Barb sighed. "It was a stupid question honey. I didn't mean anything by it."

"I know." Sadie wrapped her arms around herself tightly.

"He'll be back." Barb assured her daughter.

"How can you know that?" Sadie began pacing again. "What if he hates me?"

"Lars is…a little rough around the edges. But, he's a good person, you know that." Barb reasoned. "If you didn't you wouldn't be with him."

"I'm not even with him now." Sadie pointed out. "I'm not anything to him, I'm so stupid!" She threw another pillow, knocking a couple pictures off the wall.

"You're not stupid." Barb sighed.

"Are you sure? Because in case you forgot, I'm knocked up." Sadie drew in a shaky breath. "I'm knocked up by a guy who thinks I'm just a fun fuck buddy."

"Hey!" Barb cut in angrily. "Don't talk about yourself like that. You're not stupid and you didn't do anything wrong. You're both adults."

"One of whom, happens to be a high school student." Sadie countered.

"An eighteen year old high school student, nineteen pretty soon, right?" Barb pointed out.

"Yeah." A little bit of the fire went out from Sadie's eyes. Barb smiled wearily and took the two mugs of hot chocolate in hand.

"Come on baby, sit down." Barb handed one mug to her daughter, attempting to lure her to the couch.

"What if…"

"Stop that." Barb snapped, causing Sadie to jump a little. "Just stop! Come over here and sit down." She ordered. Sadie complied, setting her mug on the coffee table.

"Mom, I'm just…." Sadie began.

"Worried, hurt, scared, about a thousand other things. I know that." Barb told her. "But just for tonight, hang out with your momma and watch a movie. For me, please?" Barb begged, suddenly anxious to spend all the quality time with her daughter as she could get.

"Okay." It was a muted agreement, an indulgence. Barb knew that. For tonight that was enough.