.:Chapter Six:.

It was probably the most nervous that Carlos had felt in his entire life. He hadn't ever gotten this bad when he was waiting for a hockey game to start. With hockey, everything was direct. You either on won or lost, you either celebrated or moped, you were either happy and on an adrenaline high until the next game, or pissed off and wouldn't want to talk to anyone. At least during a hockey game Carlos could shove someone into the boards or smack them with his hockey stick if they were annoying him on the ice. But he couldn't do that to his mother, Mrs. Knight, Kelly, or Mr. and Mrs. King. He could probably do it to Gustavo, but then that would be like having a death wish.

So in essence, he was stuck.

Carlos sighed and rolled onto his side, moving his pillow over his head. In an hour, he and Stephanie were going to be telling their parents and the adults that were close to them what was going on. Then they were going to announce it to their fans online. Carlos was a big fan of ScuttleButter and was always taking and ScuttButting them whenever he got the chance. It made him smile whenever he sees their ScuttButts about how he made their day just by acknowledging them or how grateful they were that he and his friends made Big Time Rush. Part of him knew that a lot of fans were going to be disappointed in their news; they were likely to lose a lot of fans because of it. He had seen it happen before, when Justin Bieber started to date Selena Gomez, he lost fans by the thousands and then the two of them started to get death threats. He didn't want that for Stephanie, but he didn't want to lie and act like nothing was going on when their lives were going to change forever in the next few months.

They already started to get some baby stuff, Carlos managed to buy it with his debit card and hide the bill from Mrs. Knight; so she couldn't see what he paid for. Kendall, Logan, and James had helped by grabbing the mail before Mrs. Knight could and taking the packages and hiding it in their rooms. They started to get diapers and clothes and binkies and bottles, but they knew that having to get car seats and more clothes and diapers when the baby started to grow out of it, and finding a place for it to actually live was going to be harder.

Carlos smiled to himself.

On their most recent date, he had suggested to Stephanie, as a joke, that they just hide the baby as well, Carlos could put it in his closet, as Mrs. Knight vowed to never go in there, and they could take turns feeding it and changing it. Due to the incredible amount of pressure they were under, the two of them had laughed long and hard about it. Then the two sat where they were, wrapped in each other's arms. Carlos had his hands on Stephanie's stomach, knowing that there was another life growing in there, his son or daughter. That thought alone, made him smile. He always wanted to have a kid, when he knew he was ready, and hopefully, he was ready. He wasn't sure if they were going to be able to handle it if they gave their baby up for adoption. Stephanie must have felt the same way, they had some sort of a sense of being able to read each other' s minds, for she put her hands on Carlos's and tilted her head back against his chest, her head resting just under his chin.

"You're going to be a great father, Carlos," she whispered.

"And you're going to be a great mother," Carlos whispered back, kissing her on the top of her head before she craned her neck around and he gave her a loving, long kiss on the mouth.

Now here he was, counting down the time until he had to go and possibly give his mother a heart attack.

Carlos sighed and looked at his watch before leaving his room. Kendall, Logan, James, and Katie were sitting in the apartment, playing a video game. When they heard the door open, Kendall, Logan, and James instinctively turned around, falling silent. The three of them knew that Carlos was going to tell everyone today. And while Katie didn't know what was going on, she knew that something was up if they had used more of Gustavo's frequent flier miles to get his mother out of LA.

"Hey Carlos, how are you feeling?" Kendall asked with a warm smile.

Carlos couldn't help but smiled, gratefully, in return. No matter what the situation, Kendall was always the first one to try and make things better. "I'm doing great, considering," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "I thought that you guys were going out."

"We thought that we would stay in and give you support," James replied with a grin.

"I don't know what we're supporting you for," Katie said with a shrug. "But Kendall said that it would be a good idea if I did."

"I told you," Kendall said, slightly impatient. "I'll tell you later."

"Why can't I know now?"

Logan ignored the siblings as he looked at Carlos. "I know that I haven't been the most agreeable person these past couple of months, but I do support you and whatever decision you guys come up with." Carlos nodded. "I hope you know that."

"Of course I do," Carlos rolled his eyes. "You're my best friend, Logan. Even if you were acting like a turd."

"I deserve that one," Logan admitted, smiling a little.

"Yeah, you do," James said, pausing in his hysterical laughter. Logan scowled and leaned over to hit him, but James easily overpowered his smarter friend, knocking him to the floor. "What do you think is going to happen?"

"I think that I'm going to be yelled at," Carlos said honestly. "My Mom will probably die, Mrs. Knight will be disappointed, and Mr. King will shoot me." He shrugged. "But then again, I don't know if he even has a gun, so he would probably just beat me to death."

"Good to see you still have as sense of humor about it," James said kindly. "You're going to be fine, bro."

"I know," Carlos nodded. He looked at his watch. "I'll see you guys later, I'm going to go see Steph before…you know." He waved and left the apartment, walking up to the seventh floor to get to Stephanie's.

He opted to walk rather than take the elevator solely for the purpose that it would give him time to figure out exactly what he was going to say. You had to be delicate with news like this, not that it would help much. He was also trying to figure out exactly what the others were going to say. He had earplugs, because he knew that Gustavo was going to be screaming. He even had a pair of headphones to put over Stephanie's stomach, to be sure that the baby didn't hear Gustavo's voice. But Mrs. Knight and Kelly were hard to place. He knew that they would be disappointed, but he wasn't sure if they would be proud, knowing that he was going to step up to be the father to the baby. Or if they were going to be proud to know that he was taking responsibility and being serious with what was going on in his life. He could have easily been one of those guys that just ran away from his problems. But he was tired of people thinking that, of being the one that wasn't taken seriously. That's why it hurt so badly when Logan was reminding Carlos about how serious his predicament was.

How could he not know how serious it was?

Having sex in the first place was a serious step in their relationship (also because many people thought that Logan and Camille were sleeping together, even though Logan reassured them that they weren't). Mrs. Knight had even gone so far as to give them the sex talk again when they had gotten out to LA. She wanted them to be safe, with all of the temptations out there in LA; you never knew what could happen. With how big the boys were getting and all of the female fans that continue to accumulate, they had to be extra careful not to lead any of them on at concerts or meet and greets. He remembered when he first announced that he was dating Stephanie, there were a lot of fans that were mad and sent her death threats. But they got through that, so they could get through this too.

Stephanie sighed as she looked at her reflection, brushing her hair. She tightly gripped her hairbrush, lowering it from her hair down to her desk. Nervous wasn't the right word that would explain how she was feeling. If there was a word about nervous, than that would be how she felt. She easily concealed her morning sickness from her father by saying that she ate something bad. She could tell that he was a bit skeptical, but that he believed her anyway. She was feeling really badly about lying to him, but at least now she could finally tell him the truth.

Stephanie got up from her desk with a bit of difficulty, finally starting to feel the weight of the baby in her stomach, to straighten up her room. Jo and Camille had come by earlier to keep her company while they waited for Carlos to arrive. The two of them knew that Carlos and Stephanie were going to be telling the adults and their fans what was going on that day and they were going to wait with the others in 2J to figure out what was said.

Stephanie was sure that they would be upset, but there wasn't much that they could do about it; she and Carlos were eighteen so they were able to do what they wanted and it was kind of late to get an abortion at that point, if they changed their mind. Stephanie was terrified at the thought of a miscarriage, and refused to think about it. Even though it wasn't the best time, she wanted to keep the baby, to be sure that it knew that it was loved and not given up. They could handle it with some help and even if her father refused to help her, they could still deal with it.

"Hey Steph," Carlos greeted as he strolled into her room.

Stephanie stopped flapping her pillowcase, trying to move the pillow back down and grinned when she spotted her boyfriend. She always smiled when she saw him, she couldn't help it. "Hey you," she replied, walking (slightly waddling) over to him and giving him a kiss. "How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Nervous," Carlos replied honestly. He eyed her with concern as she continued to flap the pillowcase again. "Is it safe to do that?"

"As far as I'm concerned, making my bed won't hurt the baby," Stephanie managed to give him a teasing smile before she went back to making up her bed. Carlos moved to her side and gently nudged her out of the way so he could do it. Stephanie sighed softly, resting her hands on her stomach. "I can't believe we're telling them today."

"Well, it's not like we can just run away from home, have the baby, and then come back with it," Carlos pointed out.

"We could," Stephanie nodded. "And I could try and film it." She grinned, getting in on the joke. "And if the people like the story so much, it could be made into a major film."

"And who'd play you?" Carlos asked, turning to her as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I think that Antonio Banderas would play me," he grinned as Stephanie laughed.

"If he plays you, then Hallie Berry has to play me," Stephanie returned.

The two laughed as Carlos finished making up her bed. When he did finish, he picked up the Stuffy Puppy that had been lying down on top of the pillow and squeezed it in his hands. It would be the perfect gift for their baby. They just had to get through the next couple of months and the possible backlash that they were going to get. But as long as they were together, they could get through it.

"What are you thinking about?" Stephanie asked, walking over to Carlos and placing her hands on his cheeks. She gently kissed him on the forehead before rubbing her thumb against his cheek.

"I was just thinking about baby names, "Carlos said after a moment, lifting her eyes to his. "I mean, we're going to need some when the baby is born; we can't just keep calling her 'Baby's the whole time."

"Her?" Stephanie looked amused. "What makes you think it's a girl."

"I just know," Carlos said with a warm smile.

"Carlos, I hate it break it to you, but he could be a boy," Stephanie reminded her boyfriend.

"No," Carlos reached up and held onto Stephanie's hands. "She's going to be a girl, I can tell." He held onto her hands tightly. "She's going to be our daughter and we're going to be the best parents and take care of her very well." He paused. "And she's not dating until she's eighteen." He added sharply.

Stephanie tilted her head back and laughed.

And then Carlos did something that made Stephanie smile with pride.

He bent down and gently rubbed her stomach before kissing it gently.

"I love you," he whispered.

A/N: I've changed my mind to the plot of this story, like, five times. First, it was going to be about Carlos and Stephanie having a baby, but then I realized that it was about showing Carlos as a character that could be serious and not so goofy all the time. So that's why this story is going to end in the next chapter, though there will be a short epilogue.

I hope you guys liked this chapter.

Cheers,

-Riles