Note: Just a quick thank you to all of you that have been reading from the beginning, the story has definitely evolved a bit, due in large part to your desire to want to read more and to Kirsten who has helped me through some major writers block/just hashing out ideas, and how certain characters would act. Thank you!!

--

"Henry, I have a proposition for you," Ben exclaimed with a grin on his face, as he approached Henry, who was taking some books out of his locker. "How would you like to be my best man?"

Henry blinked several times before answering. He shut his locker and slung his backpack over his shoulder. "Yeah, of course! What are best friends for?" Henry replied with a smile. "I can't believe you're getting married. You're so lucky to have found Amy," he sighed. They left Henry's locker and began to walk down the south corridor towards their respective classes.

"I am pretty lucky, but don't worry, Henry," Ben consoled his friend with a pat on the back. "There's a girl out there for you."

"I hope you're right," he nodded. "I don't want to be alone for the rest of my life. I thought Alice would be the one, you know? Then she wasn't, and I just haven't known what to do ever since. Will Ashley be there?"

"Yes, Ashley will be there. She's Amy's maid-of-honor. You'll be escorting her," Ben replied. As much as Ben hated to encourage Henry's on-again, off-again infatuation with Ashley, it was the truth. "Now, there is the small matter of Alice," Ben continued.

"What about Alice?" Henry asked.

"Amy asked me to ask her if she'd like to be a bridesmaid. Is that gonna be awkward between you two? I haven't talked to her yet, but I think Alice would like to do it, and I know Amy would like Alice to be there."

"We'll be fine. We're friends, it's just tough sometimes. We try. I mean, its Amy's wedding though, right? It's her day. We'll do whatever is best for her," Henry nodded.

"You're a good man, Henry," Ben replied as the bell for class rang. "We can talk nitty-gritty details later," he added with a wave. Henry turned right and entered the classroom and Ben jogged a few doors up and entered his fourth period science class.

Ben snuck in and sat down in the back. Thankfully the teacher had not started class yet. He pulled out his cell phone and sent Alice a text.

Wanna meet me for lunch? I need to talk.

--

"Why are you meeting with Millie and Vanilli, anyway? They've been pretty much the worst friends, ever." Amy and Ashley walked side by side down the sidewalk on their way to the small restaurant that Amy had called the meeting at.

"There has to have been a reason we were best friends for so long, right? I mean, sure, they've done some pretty bad things, but this is my wedding. If my two best friends can't be at my wedding, I don't know what I'm going to do."

"I think you'll probably live," Ashley scoffed. "You've got Ben. What more could a girl ask for?"

"You don't understand, Ashley. Ben's not a girlfriend. It's not the same."

"Ben's not your best friend?" Ashley asked. "If Ben's not your best friend, you probably shouldn't be marrying him. With all the other complications, what chance have you got if he's not your best friend?"

"I didn't say that, Ashley. You'd have to be in the situation to understand, okay? I'll handle, Mill -- Lauren and Madison. I'm doing what I have to do."

"Amy!"

"Oh, Hi Grace," Amy replied stopping in the middle of the sidewalk as Grace Bowman approached her with an excited smile on her face.

"Oh, Amy, how are you?" Grace asked pulling her into an embrace. "It's been so long since I've seen you, since you've been doing home school."

"I'm doing really well, thanks Grace," Amy replied with a smile. There was a point where Amy hadn't really known or understood Grace, but she had turned out to be really sweet and supportive of Amy coming back to school, even though ultimately Amy had decided not to.

"You must be due any day now, huh? You look good."

"Pretty soon, yeah," she said with a telling smile.

"So, you and Ben, you're still together?"

"Yeah, we are. We're engaged, for real this time. See?" she said, holding up her hand to show off the ring. "We're getting married at the end of June."

"Well, congratulations! It's a little unconventional. You're so young, but I suppose this is all a little bit unconventional. Ben is a sweet guy. You need someone like him. I'm glad you found each other."

"Yeah, me too," Amy replied matter-of-factly. "Do you want to come to the wedding?"

"I'd love to," Grace replied sweetly. "Can I bring Ricky?"

Amy didn't reply right away she was a little take aback by the statement. Was she serious? Did she want to bring Ricky as her date? Before Amy could respond, Ashley did.

"Um, no! He's father of Amy's baby, and this is Amy's day with Ben. She doesn't want him anywhere near the wedding, or her. Ever."

"Ashley," Amy scolded. She turned her head and looked back at Grace. "She's being mean, but she's right. I don't want anything to do with Ricky, Grace. I chose Ben. Ricky needs to deal with that. He's not a nice guy, Grace. I'd love it if you would come, but please don't bring Ricky with you," she finished.

"Maybe he's different, Amy. Maybe he's changed. If you don't want him there, I won't bring him. I should have thought before I said that. I'm sorry. You're right. Maybe I'll see you there. Whether I come or not, congratulations, I hope you and Ben are happy."

"Thanks, Grace," Amy replied nodding her head. "I'll see you," she added. Grace waved, carefully sidestepped the sisters and continued on her way.

"Could she have been ruder?" Ashley asked. "I mean, come on. It's not like she forgot about you and Ricky. She's not that dumb."

"Whatever, Ashley. It doesn't matter. She won't bring him." They reached the café and Amy spotted Lauren and Madison across the seating area. "You don't have to hang around. I said I could handle this, so I will."

"Fine, I'll be across the street," Ashley snapped. Amy inhaled deeply and walked towards the two girls, who were seated together.

"Hi," she replied, pasting on a smile and pulling out a chair at the table.

--

"Alright, I'm here. What did you need?" Alice asked as she slammed down her brown sack lunch and swung her legs over the picnic bench.

"Bad day?" Ben asked, screwing up on eyebrow.

"No more than usual," Alice replied. "Seriously, what's going on?"

"It's nothing, really. I just – Amy and I, were just curious if you would like to be a bridesmaid in the wedding? It's going to be the end of June. She asked me, and I said I didn't know if you'd want to. I figured you might. You know, pretty dress and whatnot. Girls like that stuff, right?"

Alice rolled her eyes. "You do know that according to the U.S. Census Bureau, fifty-nine percent of young adults who marry under the age of twenty get divorced within ten years of marriage, right?"

"Thanks for the encouragement, Alice."

"Look, Ben, I'm sorry. I shouldn't say stuff like that. I know you've thought about it. I know you know how hard this is gonna be," Alice apologized. "You're a sweet guy, Ben. If anyone can make this work, it's you. It's just gonna be hard."

"Amy and I love each other, Alice. We really, really do. I can't imagine life without her. I don't ever intend to leave her. Do you remember what I was like before I met Amy?"

"Yeah, you were a real loser," she replied sarcastically and somewhat under her breath. She took a beat. "I'm kidding, but yes. Amy has been really good for you and you for her."

"Does that mean you'll be a bridesmaid? That on some weird level, you approve?"

"Yes," she replied, nodding and smiling. "I will be a bridesmaid. It's sweet that Amy thought of me. I hope the statistics are wrong for you two."

"I know they are," Ben replied confidently.

--

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Madison asked, her tone innocent and friendly as if nothing had happened. Lauren said nothing.

"Well, I know that some things happened between us. Things got a little out of control with the baby and Ricky, and somehow our friendship disappeared. I'm sorry about that, for the part I played in that," she added.

"It wasn't just you," Madison replied. "We did pretty much tell the whole school you were pregnant with Ricky's baby. Then Lauren did some things with Ricky she probably shouldn't have."

"I can speak for myself," Lauren replied sharply. "I still think I had every right to make out with Ricky. Maybe it was stupid, but just because you made a big mistake with him, Amy, doesn't mean he's going to make that mistake again." Amy nodded.

"If that's how you want to see it, I think you're wrong," Amy replied. "But, that's up to you. The real reason I asked you both here is that Ben and I set a date for the wedding and I want you two – my supposed two best friends – to be my bridesmaids, you two, Ashley, and Alice if she says yes."

"You are seriously getting married to Ben?" Lauren looked a little shocked. "I didn't think you'd actually go through with all it. You're sixteen, Amy! Sixteen and pregnant by another guy. It's not a good idea, Amy."

"You two were the one's that suggested it in the first place. Remember on my first date with Ben, at the dance? You wanted me to marry him. I didn't want to marry him just because of the baby. I didn't want to trick him into something, but you wanted me to. So, now I actually want to marry him because I'm in love with him and you don't approve!?"

"We were in a desperate situation. We weren't thinking," Lauren responded. "If you love him, maybe you should wait a while. Like ten years? Maybe fifteen? You don't need to marry him, now."

"That's just the thing though, Lauren. You don't get it. There's no reason not to. It's not like my life is going to be a normal teenage life anyway now that I'm going to be a mother. He loves me, and I love him. I'm so, so lucky. I might as well spend it with him. Why do you have to take that away from me? Why do you always try to take happiness away from me?"

"You know, I think you guys are young, but if Ben is what makes you happy, Amy, you should get married," Madison replied, finding it hard to get a word in edgewise between the two of them.

"Madison! Don't do this. You don't think that. You're just saying that because you're in front of Amy," Lauren replied.

"No, I'm not," Madison retorted. "It's not the best idea, but she can do what she wants. I think she gets that choice now that she's in her situation."

"You know, sometimes I wonder why we were ever friends at all," Lauren responded. "Have a good marriage," she added bitingly as she stormed off. Madison glanced over at Amy and her expression turned a bit sad. She bit her lip.

"Sorry," Madison whispered, and jogged to catch up with Lauren.

Amy pulled her cell phone from her purse as tears began to run down her face. That was it. Her two best friends were gone. She dialed as she tried hard to hold back the tears.

--

Amy placed her hand on the small golden knob on the Boykewich front door and turned it. Disheartened, she dropped her purse on the kitchen table and made a bee line for the freezer. Inside, she found several containers of Ben & Jerry's and pulled one out. She grabbed a spoon from the drawer and sat down.

The first spoonful of cherry and chocolate goodness was heaven, but it didn't keep the tears at bay. She'd done her best, and mostly succeeded to hide them from the driver, but now that she was home, there was no way. Several salty tears dropped onto the ice cream, making little spots that shone differently in the light.

"I'm home," Ben replied, cheerily as he rounded the corner. "How was your --," he replied, stopping mid-sentence as he saw his Amy sobbing into a carton of Cherry Garcia. He rushed over to her and pulled out a chair to sit down on. "What's wrong, Amy?" He received no answer, just a few more tears and some sharp inhalations of air. "Sweetie," he asked, rubbing her back lovingly. "Tell me what it is. I'll fix it. I'll fix whatever it is."

Amy sobbed a few more times before she answered. "You can't fix it, Ben!" she exclaimed. "You can't fix it."

"Maybe if I knew what it was," he requested again.

"I went to talk to Lauren and Madison," Amy sniffled.

"Not good, huh?" Ben asked.

"No. It was not good. Basically, they don't approve of us getting married. They think we should wait until we're thirty or something. Like that's gonna make things different," she sniffed. "So, basically, I chose you over them. They made me choose you over them. That's it. I don't have bridesmaids. My two best friends disowned me because I want to marry you." She continued to sob. "I don't know if we ever were friends," she finished. She set down the spoon and carton.

"Amy, I'm so sorry. I know how much you wanted to patch things up with them. I know how important it was to you that they be there. That's an awful position to put you in. I'm so sorry," he replied, pulling her into his shoulder like he had done all those months ago. "I love you, so much, Amy, but I never intended to come between you and your best friends," he added. He placed a kiss on the crown of her head and smoothed down her hair, gently. "What can I do? Do you want to not get married? I guess I don't want that, but if that's what you want --," he offered.

"It's not what I want, Ben," Amy replied, pressing her hand to his chest. "It's not what I want. I want to get married. I want to be with you. I really, really, really do. I was hoped that they could understand that. That they could be happy for me," she added. "Before that, I ran into Grace and she wanted to bring Ricky to the wedding. What was she thinking? Ricky? I think he's caused enough trouble. This is my wedding, our wedding, our day. I don't want Ricky there. It's just been the worst day, Ben."

"There's nothing I can do?" Ben asked again, softly.

"I don't know. I don't think so. You've done enough," Amy replied, looking up at him. "You're amazing. Just being here for me, listening to me is enough. You can't make Lauren and Madison change their minds, and you can't make me not pregnant."

"No, I can't, but I'm here for you, always. I know you want to have girlfriends, but I will take care of you and listen to you. I'll be everything you need, if you let me. I love you," he replied, placing a kiss on her lips and then pulling away gently. She made a small whimpering noise as their lips separated and she reached out for him, pulling him back to her, this time placing the kiss on his lips.

They continued to kiss, each one building on the next. She wrapped her arms around his torso and brought him as close to her as possible. She rested her head on his shoulder and she spoke softly. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, Amy. Please don't ever be sorry for being you, and for having troubles. We all have troubles, and I love you, so your troubles are my troubles. That's what it means," he replied, brushing his finger gently over her tear-stained face. "What can I do? Do you think you'll be alright now?"

"As alright as I can be," Amy replied and nodded. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Ben responded, once again pressing a kiss to her lips.

She smiled faintly and rose to put the spoon in the dishwasher. Upon standing, she felt a momentary dull pain in her lower back which she had never felt before. Ben sat there with his thoughts, as she cleaned up. As she closed the dishwasher, Amy noticed the pain return again. Something didn't feel right, she felt different. "Ben," she shouted in fear.

"What is it?" Ben spun in his chair to face her. She was leaned up against the island in the middle of the room. "What is it?" he repeated, coming to her side once more. She looked up at him, now holding her swollen abdomen.

"I think it's time," Amy replied as calmly as she could.

"You're not due for two more weeks. How do you know?" Ben's head was beginning to spin. It felt like this day would never come, even though he knew it would.

"I just do, okay? We don't need to argue about this," Amy inhaled.

"You're right, we don't. Everything is gonna be fine. I love you," Ben replied taking her hand. "Let's get you to the hospital. We'll call your Mom on the way."