"Hey, dude, think fast!" Andre turned at just the right time to catch his phone when Beck threw it to him from across the Canadian's RV. "Caller ID says it's Tori."
"Hey, baby," Andre said with a smile as he answered his girlfriend's call.
"Andre, I need to talk to you."
There were tears in her voice – he could hear them even through the phone – and his expression fell into one of concern as he said, "Okay, I'm listening."
"Where are you?"
"At Beck's RV; why?"
"Can he hear you? And what about Jade?"
Andre was getting concerned as he answered her odd questions with, "Beck's digging some hotdogs out of the fridge to slap on his parents' grill and Jade and Roxy are already outside. Why; is something wrong?"
"Not exactly, but sort of."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Andre asked.
"Well, see, I think the reason that Jade and Beck told us everything that they did yesterday was because Jade had figured out that I was pregnant."
Andre reached behind him as the blood rushed from his face, fumbling for something to grab hold of to keep him on his feet while he asked, "You're what?"
Beck stood up from the mini refrigerator, looking at him in concern. Something in Andre's face must have given it away, because his best friend paled right along with him.
Beck jogged to the door of the RV and opened it, calling softly for Jade as Tori repeated softly, "Adam Carlisle got me pregnant."
"Oh, Tori, baby…" he slid down to sit at the table and put his head in his free hand, repeating, "A baby?"
"Do you hate me now?" Tori asked in a small, hurting voice. "Because if you want to break up with me, I totally get it."
Andre's head came back up as he said, his tone made sharp by surprise, "No!" He took a deep breath, looking wildly at Beck as the young step-father slid into the seat across from him.
"What's wrong?" Jade asked, coming into the RV with Roxy on her hip.
Beck glanced at her long enough to put a finger to his lips before he returned his gaze to watching Andre's expression, obviously trying to hear bits and pieces of Andre and Tori's conversation.
Uncomfortable with the undisguised scrutiny, Andre lowered his head to stare at the tabletop as he said solemnly, "I am not about to break up with you, Tori." Behind him, Jade inhaled sharply, but he ignored her as he continued, "and I absolutely do not hate you; I love you. Don't you know that?"
"I know you did," Tori answered softly. "But do you now that I'm pregnant?"
"Yes, of course I do. Always."
"What if I decide to keep the baby, raise a kid myself?"
Andre paused for a moment, rubbing at his forehead to abate the sudden headache that had exploded across his mind. "Then you won't be doing it by yourself;" he glanced at Beck across from him and then twisted in his seat to look at Jade and Roxy behind him as he said, "We'll be there to help you every step of the way."
"We who?" Tori asked tearfully.
"Ask her where she is," Beck ordered softly.
Not knowing what else to do, Andre obeyed.
"That's what I needed your help with," Tori said, explaining about the ultrasound before she finished, "I wanted you to come with Trina and me. We're already on our way there."
"I'll meet you there," Andre said without a second thought, and then Beck caught his eye, his expression conveying exactly what he wanted. "Hey, listen, Beck and Jade want to come too; do you want them there or not?"
Tori thought for a second before she answered, "Okay."
"Alright. We're getting ready to go as we speak. I'll see you in a few minutes, okay, beautiful?"
Tori laughed in surprise at the pet name that she obviously didn't think applied to her at the moment, a thread of bitterness winding through the sound. "Okay."
"And, hey," Andre said right before she hung up.
"Yeah?"
"I love you, Tori Vega."
She almost started crying as she answered, "I love you too, Andre Harris."
Andre hung up and sprung to his feet, already heading towards the door. "Where did Jade go?" he asked as he slammed the door of the RV open and clattered down the steps to the Olivers' driveway.
"Right here," Jade answered, her expression tense as she came quickly towards them from the direction of Beck's parents' house. She looked to Beck, explaining, "I left Roxy with your parents, told them that a friend had an emergency."
Beck nodded. As Andre opened the driver's side door to his car, he felt his best friend's hand on his shoulder. When he looked back at him, Beck had his other hand outstretched for the keys.
"Let me drive," Beck ordered.
"I can-"
"You'll wreck us before we're even two miles down the road."
Andre blinked at him but he knew both that Beck was right and that he didn't want to take the time to argue even if he hadn't been, so he tossed him the keys and slid into the back of the car while Jade was slamming the passenger door closed behind her.
Andre gave him the address and Beck peeled out of the driveway. Once they were on the road, Jade asked what Andre realized he hadn't yet verified. "So I was right about Tori being pregnant?"
"You knew?" Beck and Andre asked in surprise at the same time.
"I only suspected," Jade said, the palpable stress in the car sharpening her tone. "But she is?"
"Yeah," Andre muttered.
"So where am I actually going?" Beck asked.
"Tori said that she and Trina were on their way to a pro-life clinic so that Tori could get a free ultrasound."
Beck read between the lines and asked, "Is she considering an abortion, then?"
Andre shrugged, "I didn't ask; I just wanted to get to her as soon as possible."
Beck took that as his cue and stepped on the gas pedal just a bit harder.
"We're looking for Tori and Trina Vega," Andre said, stepping up to a nurse as he entered the small hospital lookalike.
The nurse, a tiny little Asian woman, smiled at him and said, "Relax… You're Andre Harris, right?"
He nodded, confused by how she might know his name.
"Tori told us that you would be coming. Now I need you to calm down, please. Calm down… and listen."
"Listen?" Jade repeated sharply from Andre's left side.
But that was when Andre heard what the nurse was talking about. Because that was when he heard his girlfriend cry out, "Oh my gosh, Trina, look; it's a foot! And it's little itty bitty witty hand…!"
Beck had apparently heard Tori too, because he released a deep breath of air from his lungs and raked his hands through his hair in a sigh of great relief. Jade looked over at the two boys, and intrigued smirk gracing her face before she started heading in the direction that Tori's and Trina's exclamations were coming from.
"What have we here?" Jade asked as she stopped and leaned against the doorway of the dark ultrasound room, sounding like the same old, disinterested girl that she had always been when it came to Tori Vega. Yet her eyes told a different, surprisingly kinder story.
"A baby!" Tori practically squealed. Andre stepped past Jade and into the room in time to see his girlfriend's eyes darken as she said softly, "I can't believe that I almost threw a baby away." She smiled softly, admitting, "I love him already." She asked Jade, "Does that make me crazy?"
Under normal circumstances, everyone knew full well what Jade's answer would have been, but this time the Goth just smiled indulgently at the Latina and said, "No, that just makes you a mother."
"Not necessarily…" Andre muttered to himself as he stared at the tiny guy on the ultrasound screen. "He looks like a pretty cool kid. I think I might stick around for the little guy," he glanced at Tori, adding, "If you'll let me."
Tori grabbed his hand and held on for all she was worth, fighting back tears and letting her smile voice her answer.
"I really am crazy, huh?" Andre asked Beck.
"Nah," Beck grinned and threw an arm lazily around his best friend's shoulders. "You're just in love."
Longest and last chapter of the story! There's one more short story (one- or two-shot) in the series if you want me to write that. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this story, and are enjoying this series as much as I am! Reviews make my day, if you feel so inclined! Thanks!:)
P.S. I've got a new poll up, if you guys want to take a look at it! Thanks!:)