Author's Note: Here's my chapter for you all :) I won't be back after today (Thursday) until Monday, so try not to miss me too much. Enjoy.

Marco stood in front of his bedroom mirror, running his right hand up and down his stomach gently. If his baby was there, he wanted to get some sort of a sign, a movement, something, which he knew was highly unlikely.

He gave up, deciding to just relax with some television. It might actually take his mind off of the baby. However, as soon as he turned it on, there was a knock at his door.

"Yes?" he said, irritated.

"We're going out to dinner," said Ellie, sounding unusually peppy, most likely trying to improve his mood. If anything, her attitude was making him feel worse. When she got no response, she quickly added, "You are included."

"I don't feel like it," he replied immediately, trying to concentrate on the show that was on. Truthfully, he had no idea what it was.

Ellie groaned. "Come on," she said encouragingly. "You've been in there all day."

Marco was quite aware of that. "Your point is?' he asked.

"In two seconds, I'm sending Dylan in!" she warned. "Just two seconds."

Marco gave up on the sitcom, turning the television off, frustrated. "He doesn't have the power to change my mind," he retorted.

"Paige?"

"No."

"Alex?"

Marco paused before answering. He had to admit he was rather scared of Paige's raven-haired girlfriend. She definitely had the power to do mind-boggling things to him, and she wasn't afraid to do them.

He could just picture the smirk on Ellie's face as she realized she had won. "No," he said nervously.

She laughed almost maniacally. "I'm getting Alex," she said sing-songedly.

Marco slapped his head to his forehead angrily. "Stupid. Stupid. Stupid." He decided not to have Alex try to force him out, but to instead, give up willingly. He threw the door open, coming face to face with Ellie. She had her arms crossed, and a smirk that was identical to the one he'd pictured.

"Hello, boy," she said, glad to see him out of the room. "Need help getting ready?" she asked.

Marco rolled his eyes, banging his forehead against the doorframe. "No, thank you. Why did you make me come out here if I still have to get ready?"

"I just wanted to make sure you would," she said, nodding curtly. "You have ten minutes."

Marco turned around, closing the door behind him. He didn't feel like changing. He didn't feel like going out to dinner. He didn't feel like talking to anyone, being asked about how he felt, or if he was upset about the possibility of a miscarriage. He didn't feel like talking about it! He didn't even want to think about it.

He opened his top drawer, revealing a good amount of shirts. He didn't feel like choosing one. He didn't want to do much of anything that day.

"Marco?" said Dylan quietly, knocking. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," he said indifferently.

Dylan pushed the door open, smiling sadly at Marco as he dressed. "You okay?" he asked.

"Just stop asking me that," he said, buttoning the white shirt he'd thrown on. "I want to ignore it."

"Sitting around in bed all day is helping you ignore it?" Dylan asked, a look of disbelief on his face. "That has to be making your problem worse."

"There's no problem!" Marco exclaimed suddenly, turning around to face him. "I didn't even want a baby, Dylan. Don't you get that? It would have ruined everything, so it's better he or she dies."

Even as Marco said them, he knew his words weren't true. The thought had frightened him, yes, but it had also given him something to look forward to, a challenge, an excitement. Somewhere along the line, he had started to want that baby. Every single one of his friends had something to look forward to. He had nothing…anymore.

"You don't mean that," said Dylan surely, leaning out to take Marco's hand in his. He rubbed his thumb across the flat part of Marco's hand. "You wanted this baby."

Had it been that obvious? Dylan could easily see through him. "I know," he admitted, swallowing painfully. He nodded along with his words. "I don't know why, but I somehow thought it would be good."

Dylan let go of his hand to wrap his arms around Marco lovingly. "I understand," he said comfortingly. "It'll be okay. Hey, who knows," he said, shrugging, "the baby could be okay."

"He won't be," said Marco, crying into his shoulder. "…or she."

Dylan pulled away, wiping at Marco's eyes. "Come on, now. Don't be so negative. We have a dinner to go to, eh?"

"Unfortunately."

…………………………………………………………………………………..

"Alex, you scared the poor waiter half to death," said Ellie good-naturedly as they sat down at their table. "You can't make threats like that."

"Hey," she said, offended. "I was hungry. Anything goes when you're hungry."

"Sure, hon," said Paige, rolling her eyes. She leaned her head onto her girlfriend's shoulder while looking into her menu.

"Remind me again why we're out," said Marco, reading his own menu.

"Because," said Ellie, taking a sip of her water, "you didn't want to cook, and so we were going to starve. At least, Alex was."

"I feel appreciated. You only need me for food," he pouted teasingly.

Dylan threw his arm protectively around him. "So far from the truth, honey. What do you want to get?" he asked.

"I'm not entirely sure. Some sort of vanilla cake?"

Paige gasped in mock horror. "Marco…skipping dinner?" she said, throwing her hand over her mouth. "It can't be!"

"But it is!" said Alex, looking equally as shocked.

Marco rolled his eyes, getting completely tired of having to use that gesture. "Stop," he said, though he had to chuckle at their faces. "I want to eat it. Anyone have a problem with my choice?"

Despite their shock, Alex and Paige just shook their heads, saying they had no problem with it. Marco smiled, pleased.

"So, are you okay?" asked Paige.

Marco froze, turning to his boyfriend angrily. "I can't believe you told her."

Dylan bit his lip, preparing himself to run after Marco if he got up to run out. "Listen, Marco, she had to know. What if—"

"No!" Marco yelled, simply taking no notice of the other people in the restaurant. "No, I would have told her if…"

Marco paused mid-sentence, and rose from the table. He pulled his jacket off the chair, throwing it sloppily over him, not bothering to use the zipper. His friends looked up from the table at him, clearly concerned.

"You had no right to tell her!"

"Marco, baby, listen…" he said softly, glaring at those who were staring. He watched as a waiter made his way over, probably to tell him to stop making the scene. "Listen, I'm sorry."

"This is important to me. Why would you tell her?" he asked, pain stricken.

"I'm sorry," said Dylan, walking with him to the door.

"Don't bother, okay?" said Marco, finally making his way outside. "It's freaking freezing out here."

"Come on," said Dylan, putting his arm around Marco. "Please listen to me."

"No," said Marco stubbornly, refusing to look him in the eyes. "So, what, exactly, did you say to them? 'Hey, everyone feel bad for Marco. He's going to lose his baby.'?"

"You know that's not true," said Dylan, trying to persuade Marco to look at him, and not call a taxi. "I made a mistake by telling them, yes."

"Dylan, you humiliated me," he said, finally turning to look at him. "A lot."

"Humiliated? You're embarrassed about this?" he asked, confused. "Why?"

"Because I couldn't handle it. I can't do anything!" said Marco, taking a seat on the curb. "I can't do anything, and my body decided it can't even handle this one miracle I was so happy about. Then, I'm upset enough as it is…and you just go telling everyone!"

Dylan crouched down to Marco's level, looking down at the ground. "I guess I wasn't thinking, Marco. However, you should never think that you can't do anything."

"I don't want to hear anything about how good in school I am, got it?" said Marco, clearly sick of that.

Dylan cursed under his breath. He had been planning on it. "There are lots of other things you can do."

"Yeah, like what?" asked Marco, rolling his eyes.

"Well, for one thing, you make me the happiest man alive, which, no one has ever accomplished before," he replied with a smile.

Marco, despite his anger, smiled a little as well. "Mhmm," he said, nodding.

"Now, I did plan on doing this at a different time, but now is as good a time as any, I suppose," said Dylan, telling Marco to stand up. "I don't want us to get killed," he added, seeing Marco's look of confusion.

Dylan got down on one knee, even though it hurt to do so on the pavement. "I know you hate me right now, but for all the days you don't…will you marry me?"

He held in his hand a box, which obviously held a ring, and smiled hopefully up at him. Marco heard a sharp intake of breath, and turned to his side to see an elderly woman looking extremely entertained, as though they were in a movie. She was waiting for Marco's answer with baited breath.

"If I say 'no', I think she, over there, will just die," he said, amused. Dylan now looked nervous, as did the woman. "Of course I'll marry you!" he exclaimed.

Dylan stood up, wrapping his arms around the younger boy. "I love you so much!" said Dylan, letting go of him to slip the ring onto his finger. Marco stared down at blissfully.

"Have a nice life," said the woman with a smile, walking away.

Author's Note: Okay, here's the deal: you HAVE to review. I'm going to have a crazy weekend, and if you review, it'll make me so much happier. Pretty please? Thanks :)