1The next day Casey was lying on her bed, once again with her laptop, reading up on the facts on abortion. She thought maybe a better understanding of the procedure would make her feel less nervous about it, but Casey was wrong. If anything it made her feel worse. It didn't help that some of the websites she found were against it. Eventually she was convinced that she just couldn't go through with it. Abortion might be the right way to go for some people, but it just wasn't right for her. She'd just have to find another way to deal with this. She closed her laptop shut, looked at the clock, and realized it was time to call the clinic.

Pulling the doctor's card out of her purse, Casey picked up the phone and, her hand shaking, began to punch in the numbers. Even though she was pretty sure she was pregnant, she couldn't help but feel a minuscule spec of hope that maybe she wasn't. It rang twice before someone answered.

"Fairview Medical Clinic. How may I help you?"

"My name is Casey McDonald and I'm calling about my test results."

"Oh yes of course. We received them this afternoon. Would you like me to make you an appointment with Dr. Griffin?"

"No, you can just tell me now."

"I'm sorry miss, but I'm not at liberty to discuss that with you. I can have Dr. Griffin call you as soon as she finishes up with her patient."

"Yeah sure that's fine." She hung up the phone and laid back down on her bed, squeezing her eyes shut.

When she opened them, Derek was standing over her. "Did you call the doctor?"

"Yeah, she's gonna call back and give me my results."

"Cool. And then we can make your other appointment and this will all be over."

"Derek...I've been thinking and I don't think I can go through with it." He sighed. He was afraid she would do something like this.

"Casey we already discussed this. We don't have a choice."

"Actually Derek, I do have a choice and you don't get to make it for me."

"So what you're gonna keep it? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. You're making the biggest mistake of your life."

"That's where you're wrong. I already made the biggest mistake about 2 months ago when I spent the night with you." Casey shot back at him.

"Fine, do what you want. Kid's probably not even mine anyway."

"What did you just say?" She was shocked and appalled. How could he say something like that?

"You heard me. Girls who wind up in situations like these usually get around a lot. How do I know you're not just trying to pin this on me as a punishment or something?" Casey couldn't believe what she was hearing. Now he was just insulting her. She could feel tears burning at the back of her eyes and tightness in her throat.

"Because you're the only person I've ever been with." she replied, almost in a whisper.

"Well, right now I find that pretty hard to believe. And I'm sure everyone else will too."

"Get out!" Casey yelled, trying to fight back the tears. He headed to the door, and she picked up the first thing she saw, which happened to be the phone, and threw it at him, missing his head by barely an inch and hitting the wall.

Derek went into his room, slammed the door behind him, and immediately started to feel bad for what he said. He knew she didn't deserve it, but he had wanted to hurt her. He was scared and upset and all kinds of other emotions he didn't know how to express. Instead he just channeled it into anger and let it all out on Casey. Poor Casey. She was definitely gonna have it a lot harder than he was whether she kept the baby or not. She was brave to even consider keeping it. He realized then that Casey was strong and courageous and he was a flat out jerk.

Casey hadn't realized what she had done until she heard the phone ringing from downstairs. Derek heard it too and came running into her room. She looked down at the broken pieces on the floor and tried to put it back together in time, but it was too late. Nora, who was sitting on the couch with George reading the paper, had already picked up downstairs. Casey and Derek exchanged worried glances. Maybe it wasn't the doctor calling from the clinic? Maybe it was a relative or a telemarketer. "Casey come down here now!" Nora yelled from downstairs, after telling Lizzie and Edwin to take Marti to the park. Neither Casey, nor Derek moved a muscle.

"Casey!" Nora called up again. This time Casey swallowed her fear and went downstairs, leaving Derek to listen from the upstairs hallway.

"Yeah mom?" She tried to sound as normal as possible.

"Do you have something to tell us?" Casey shook her head. "Really? Because I just got a call from the clinic. Congratulations! You're pregnant!" Nora said with false enthusiasm.

"I'm so sorry mom."

Derek's heart sank. It was painful to listen to. George and Nora were shooting questions at her from left and right. "How could you be so stupid?" "How did this happen?" "When were you planning on telling us?" "Do you have any idea what you've done to this family?" "I have lost all trust in you." All Casey could do was apologize over and over through her tears.

Then George asked a question that almost made Derek wet his pants. "Casey who's the father?"

"Umm..you don't know him." Casey answered, evading his question. Derek couldn't believe his ears. Was Casey actually covering for him?

George asked her again, this time sounding more impatient. "Casey who is the father?" Casey was panicking. She hadn't even thought of what she'd say when this question came up. What she did say, although, was way worse than the truth.

"I don't know."

"You cannot be serious!" Nora said, shocked. "You're supposed to be setting an example for Lizzie and Marti and you're telling me you don't even know who the father of your baby is!" That one really hurt. Casey had forgotten all about Lizzie and Marti. What were they gonna think of her now? She started crying even harder.

Derek felt so bad for her at that moment, it was almost like he could physically feel her pain. He had yelled at Casey and basically called her slut, and yet there she was, taking the fall for him all by herself. He felt terrible and the guilt was weighing down on him. He needed to do something. He couldn't sit there and listen to this any longer. He was going to own up to his responsibilities and redeem himself.

At first nobody even noticed when he walked downstairs. They were both too busy yelling at Casey.

This is it Derek. It's time to be a man. He took a deep breath and blurted out, "I did it!" causing everyone to go silent.

"Did what?" George asked, afraid of his son's answer.

"I did it...to her....I mean with her." Derek found himself stuttering, unable to find the right words. He took a deep breath, and finally just said the first thing he could think of to get the point across. "I knocked her up."