I hope no one was upset about how quickly I ended my other story, but I wanted it to be finished before the new season started...might be doing a sequel if you liked it enough.

Clare walked with Eli past her mom and up the steps, possibly for the last time as a resident of the home. She waned to break down and cry, but she also wanted to give Eli only one pregnancy crisis at a time. Being kicked out trumped hormones any day. They reached her room and Clare went to the closet to find her suitcase. She was bringing it to the bed when Eli gently took the bag from her hands and set it on the bed. "You're allowed to cry, you know, and you're allowed to rant or yell to get your anger out or something" He was trying to tell her that bottling up emotions never worked, he knew from experience.

That was all Clare needed to here before sobs and salty tears over took her. She wrapped her arms around Eli's middle, and he hesitantly enveloped her in a hug. He wanted to comfort her or be whatever she needed, but they were still exes and he wasn't sure how this was going to end. "W- where do I go? J-j-Jenna's staying at Al-li's and Parker won't let me stay if I'm keeping the baby." Clare looked so lost as she begged Eli in not so many words to make everything thing better like he always did.

Eli knew he could never turn her away, especially when she was now pregnant and homeless. He had watched her be pushed to her breaking point before, but he had always made it better, because that was his job. With this in mind, he said confidently (on the outside), "You can stay with me." On the inside heart and stomach were taking turns trying to run away or beat each other senseless.

Clare was unsure she had heard him say what she thought he said. Had he really just offered to let his ex-girl friend, pregnant with someone else's baby, stay in his home? Of course he had, because he was Eli. If he wasn't having a mental breakdown, he was trying to make everyone else's life better. She looked up at him from their embrace and wanted to reject the idea. She had left him in a hospital during a horrible time in his life, then had hardly spoken to him, gotten a new boy friend soon after, and was now clinging to him and asking him to do what anyone else should have been given the task of doing. Instead of voicing all of these things, she answered, "Really? Your parents won't mind, and you really want me to?"

She didn't have to ask if the offer was real. Eli wouldn't allow someone he cared about to sleep on a park bench or be in danger by being on the street in the middle of the night. "They may be a tad apprehensive, but I'll explain what's going on. I- uh- is it okay if I tell them about...you know?", he asked looking at her still flat stomach.

Clare bit her lip and thought about how badly Cece and Bullfrog would think of her after hearing about all of this. If she was going to live with them, she couldn't exactly hide it for long, though. She nodded in affirmation, mainly because she didn't trust herself to say the words. "C-can I do it, though?" She had meant to ask if she could be the one to tell them, but the words were trying jumble into so many different sentences.

Eli knew what she was asking, because he always did. He gave her the smirk she had been missing for so long and said, "Sure. I'll be there, but you can tell them. Don't worry, though, they still love you. They'll just worry about me, not you. Clare continued packing with a little help from Eli here and there. He didn't want overstep any boundaries by looking through her drawers, so he sat on the bed or made conversation instead.

Clare looked at her two bags and then around the room. She had only packed necessities like clothes, her toothbrush, and some books. There wasn't much she could take, but she had tried. She wasn't sure where she would sleep, because she remembered Bullfrog telling her there was no guest room. "I'm ready." She said this more to herself than Eli, but he took the cue and picked up her bags. She looked at him in exasperation. "Eli, I'm not an invalid. I think I can carry my own bags, or at least one if you insist on helping." Her agitation was mostly show, and Eli knew it.

He laughed a little before looking back at her. "Come on, Edwards. I can't let you carry this stuff. I would, if I could, but I can't. Heavy lifting isn't good for the baby, so I will accept my burdens as I have to and carry these to the car for the baby. Clare couldn't hold back her smile but still slapped him on the arm when she walked past him to go back down stairs. "Ouch! That's abuse, woman.", Eli gripped his arm in mock pain before following down the steps with both bags in tow.

Helen sat on the couch and stared at the bags in Eli's hands. She had known Clare wouldn't concede to the abortion, but adoption was a good thing for everyone. She told herself that this was the best decision for everyone involved, because Clare was not mature enough to raise a child. "When you change your mind, you can come home." Her voice had a desperate undertone to it, and Eli knew she was hoping Clare would break under the pressure of motherhood soon.

He put the bags in the back and walked to the driver's side, since Clare had already gotten into Morty. She watched the house as the hearse moved away to a new destination. Eli glanced at Clare from the corner of his eyes and felt a small tinge of guilt at being the person who took her away from her home and family, but it was the choice she had made. The drive was short, and soon the hears stopped in the Goldsworthy driveway. Clare took a nervous breath and opened the hearse's door. Eli had already claimed the bags and was waiting for Clare to move to the front door. "It's unlocked, so you can just walk in.", he explained as his hands were full.

She turned the knob and pushed the door open slowly. "Clare?"