Eli and Clare were sitting with his parents at the kitchen table bright and early the next morning to discuss "a few things". Cece and Bullfrog looked at the teenagers, but neither knew how to begin. "So...", Cece began slowly. "How far along are you, Clare?"

Clare had forgotten how blunt the Goldsworthys were but was reminded of an awkward first introduction. "Three weeks." She had decided ahead of time that her answers would be short, because this conversation couldn't go by quickly enough.

Cece nodded and continued. "You should see a doctor soon to make sure everything's okay and find out what's good or bad for the baby. And, we love you and you're welcome for as long as you'd like to be here, but preparations will need to be made if you'll be staying after the baby's born. Eli said you want to keep it, and that means buying diapers, a bassinet, bottles, wipes, clothes, and making sure adequate space is made for a new member."

Cece was not rude when she said this; in fact Clare felt like she was merely being given information as common as a homework assignment. "My mom said I can't go home if I keep the baby, so I don't really have anywhere to go after having it." She didn't want to invite herself, although the offer was firmly on the table for her to take.

Cece smiled at her before speaking again. "That's fine. You can stay as long as Eli doesn't mind sharing the house with a hormonal, pregnant teenager and than a new born." Eli laughed under his breath, because if the decision were solely up to him, Clare would have already been making a list of what she needed.

Clare was about to say something when a wave of nausea washed over her. She leapt from the chair and sprinted to the trashcan, because that was as far as she could get. Eli moved behind her and held her hair back while she expelled the french toast Cece had made for breakfast that morning. She groaned and slid to the floor in exhaustion. Eli looked worriedly to Cece, silently begging her to tell him what to do. "Sweetie, why don't you go lay down, and I'll make you some soup and ginger ale."

Clare obeyed Cece and went first to brush her teeth then to Eli's room to lay down. "Sorry.", she apologized in a tired voice. Eli helped Clare into the bed and was floored by her apology.

"You shouldn't be. You're pregnant, Clare, but I will accept an apology when you become moody and start throwing stuff at me for bringing you the wrong ice cream." She laughed at his joke and was reminded again of how lucky she was to have someone- anyone- being so supportive. Clare's eyes drifted shut. She couldn't remember a time when she'd been more tired than she had felt the past week, but she assumed it was the stress of everything pregnancy related piling up on her.

"Clare. Wake up, sleepy head. There's a paper due today that you forgot to write." Eli had been trying to wake Clare without being rude, and his final statement did the trick. Clare sat up quickly in the bed and looked around in a sleepy haze.

Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly when she heard Eli's laughter beside her. She looked to the right and saw Eli standing by the bed with his hand over his mouth, trying desperately to contain his amusement at her reaction. "That was not funny, Eli!" The words would have thoroughly reprimanded him had Clare not smiled to herself. She would have further scolded Eli, but she realized that her bladder was about to burst. "Bathroom!", she yelled springing from the bed.

Eli knew it was wrong, but he found her sudden burst of energy amusing. If every day of pregnancy was like this he would survive. He walked to the bathroom door and called to Clare, "Mom said you don't need to go to the doctor until you're at eight weeks, but she looked up some foods and stuff that are good and bad for the baby"

Clare smiled at Cece's thoughtfulness. "Tell her thanks." Clare opened the bathroom door and realized it was only Tuesday. "Eli, we didn't go to school today!" He gave her a look that told her he was about to say something sarcastic like "Clare, I have black hair, again!", but she halted that by continuing. "We had school today. Why didn't we go?" She was worried that her mom would- in the middle of her thought, Clare remembered that her mom would do nothing.

"After you got sick this morning, you fell asleep. You looked like you needed it, so I asked Cece if we could stay home today. For planning purposes, of course."

"About that, are you really okay with me taking you room and living here with a baby?" Clare had fretted all night about whether Eli was doing this because he wanted to or because he was just that kind of person.

"I really want you and baby Edwards here for as long as you want." He sounded very sure of his answer, and he was. Eli knew that he wanted Clare to be somewhere she felt comfortable and have help with the baby. She smiled and the rest of the day was spent lounging around the house and relaxing. Tomorrow would be the first day Clare would be at school as the next pregnant girl at Degrassi.

Next Day

Clare could have sworn she was about five seconds away from hyperventilating or having a heart attack, but she had been swearing that since Morty had roared to life. Eli had played his part by telling her every time that she would get through this and that he would beat up anyone who said something about it to her. Eli eased Morty into his parking space and the removed the key from the ignition. They sat for a few minutes before Eli opened the door, and Clare knew her time of peace had come to an end.

The halls were filled with accusing stares that day, and it wouldn't end soon. Clare was the good, Christian girl who never cussed, drank, and certainly never had premarital sex leading to pregnancy. There she was though. Few physical features showed a baby growing inside Clare, but word had spread quickly, so everyone knew. Parker approached Clare at her locker after school. "Clare, I'm sorry about the way I reacted when you told me about the baby. It was a lot to take in, but I was hoping we could talk now that we're both more calm."

Clare had nearly interrupted him in her excitement to extend her forgiveness. She was happy with Eli, but Parker was the baby's father. "You don't how happy I am to hear that. I was so worried the baby wouldn't be able to know its father, but now I know he or she will."

Clare had missed Parker's smile lose a bit of its brightness. "So you're still keeping it?" Clare's angered expression urged him on. "I just mean that it's a lot of responsibility, and I want to go places that I couldn't go if I were tied down to a kid. You must feel the same on some level. Never going to college? Not being able to travel? And how many guys want to be in a relationship with a girl who already has a kid at sixteen? Adoption seems like an okay option though."

Clare knew Parker was right. She had very little chance of going to college as a single mother, she couldn't travel anywhere at anytime with a child, and most boys her age were not interested in teenage mothers, but she wasn't concerned with any of those things at the moment. She would take each day one at a time and see where her life was going. She walked away from Parker and ignored the stares with a new confidence that had been brought out of her by her decision. If she could survive being pregnant in high school, she could run one hundred miles in a minute while changing a dirty diaper.

When school finally ended Clare walked with Eli to Morty without so much as greeting. Eli was worried someone had upset her, so he had to break the depressed silence. "Did someone say something? Did Parker do something? I saw him talking to you but didn't want to interfere in case it was a good conversation, but if he did something" Eli trailed off, letting the threat hang in the air.

Clare smiled a little at Eli's protective nature. "It's just that I still can't believe this baby has been rejected by daddy and grandma in one day. Parker still doesn't want the baby. He wanted to me re-think abortion, but he made it clear he could live with adoption. Why am I the only who wants this baby?" Clare had seriously considered adoption when she realized that her mom and the father of the baby had both opted to ostracize her for wanting to be a mom to her child.

"You know I still support whatever you decide. If you want to go back and just look at adoption it's still there. I'm not saying either choice is better than the other, but if you aren't one hundred percent sure, isn't it worth checking out?" Eli wanted Clare to actually look at her options, because he had a sneaking suspicion that she hadn't considered adoption for long before deciding.

At first Clare wanted to yell at Eli for acting like everyone else. She wanted to tell him that she hated the idea of giving her baby away, but she wasn't one hundred percent sure, and didn't her baby deserve that? "I guess we could just look at adoption, because it's not set in stone or anything. Can we wait a little while though? My breasts are killing me, I fell asleep in three classes today, and I've already made nine trips to the bathroom (Three to vomit and six because the baby thought her bladder was a water bed) today! I just want to go home and sleep."

Eli looked at Clare – really looked at her. She looked like she could fall asleep standing in place, and he didn't want to deal with the adoption talk yet. "Sure. We'll go home, Cece will force feed you something, and you can take a nap. How was everything today?" Eli changed the subject as he and Clare sat in Morty and started their ride home.

Clare's face fell again at the mention of her day, and her bettered mood also fell. "Everyone thinks I'm a slut!" Clare had practically yelled the words as she was reminded of one conversation she had heard. The gist of the relationship was whether or not anyone knew who the baby daddy actually was.

"Because you had sex? There are some serious hypocrites working overtime in that school. You had sex once with your boy friend; I'm sure that's more than half what those people can say for themselves." Eli had cringed a bit at having to be reminded that Clare had indeed given her virginity to Parker, but he was not here to judge, so he wouldn't.

"It's not that. I mean it's some of that, but most of it's something else." Clare hadn't considered Eli's reaction when she brought up this topic. Some of the rumors at school were about her cheating with Eli or more guys. More than a few stated that Clare had no idea who the baby's father was, and that's why her mom had kicked her out. Another said it was Jake's, and she couldn't stand living under the same roof as him after he rejected her. The list went on and on, but fewer people thought the baby was Parker's after every class. "The most popular thought is that you're the father, I cheated on Parker, and that's why I'm living with you."

Eli actually laughed out loud at the mediocrity of what he was hearing. "They realize you dumped me, right? Why would you cheat on your boy friend with your ex-boy friend that you left? Clearly the jocks came up with that one." Eli was sad to voice it, but it was ridiculous for people to think Clare would have sex with him.

Clare flinched inwardly when Eli mentioned their break up. It was true that she had left him, so why did it hurt to hear? "I guess it's because I'm living with you. Most sixteen year old boys wouldn't let their ex stay with them, especially if she was pregnant with someone else's baby." After this was said, the hearse remained silent. Neither wanted to delve into the deeper meaning of why Eli had offered Clare his home or why Clare had so easily accepted.

It seemed that the pregnancy scandal was only interesting for so long. By the next week no one made remarks about Clare arriving to school with Eli, and no new rumors had sprung up recently about baby daddies or multiple sex partners. Other than dealing with morning sickness and sleeping through half her classes, school life had been easier on Clare after a week of listening to rumors about herself.

People still stared and Clare had noticed she had lied to herself when she saw no baby bump. Her jeans had become a bit tighter, and she was thankful that she usually wore dresses to school. She was officially one month pregnant, and she was already wearing a pull over sweat shirt to hide her growing belly. People knew she was pregnant, but no one had seen that she was pregnant yet. The next eight months would be the longest of her life, because she would be the walking reminder of a new rumor topic.


I know it wasn't exactly about month one, but Clare was already halfway through her first month, so it was a little difficult. Next month will be better. *hint* talking with Helen, cravings, mood swings, and a doctor's appointment. Thoughts?