.:Chapter Seven:.

"Ugh, I can't believe I'm about to tell my mother that I got a girl pregnant," Carlos said to himself as he and Stephanie walked hand-in-hand back to apartment 2J.

"Hey," Stephanie nudged Carlos on the arm. "I'm not 'a girl'," she gave him a teasing smile, which faded quickly. "I'm your girlfriend, and I'm going to support you through this." She let out a sigh as she looked at the ground.

"Aren't you going to need some support?" Carlos reminded her.

"Probably not," Stephanie replied. She lifted her head and looked at Carlos. "My Dad is going to be very angry that I lied to him and then…well…he's gonna tell my Mom, since she couldn't get out here." She shrugged. "Then she's going to tell my brother, who will either kill your or just be very mad." Carlos gulped loudly. "And then we're going to tell our fans, so…I'm sure to get some 'slut' remarks with that, so I know everything that's going to come my way." She let go of his hand and wrapped it around his waist. "You don't know how Gustavo, Mrs. Knight, your mom or Kelly is going to react." She reminded him.

"I told you before," Carlos managed a smile. "Mom is probably going to keel over and die from a heart attack, and then Gustavo is going to just scream and yell." He shrugged. "Maybe if he yells loud enough then we don't have to worry about telling our fans."

Stephanie laughed and reached up, kissing him on the cheek. Carlos gave her a curious look, but then smiled and gave her a kiss back, putting his arm around her shoulders and holding onto her tightly. They were going to need each other, to get this over with.

They reached the apartment and Carlos reached out, grabbing onto the doorknob and opening the door. Mrs. Knight, Kelly, Gustavo, Mrs. Garcia, and Mr. King all turned at the sound and watched as the two teenagers walked into the apartment. Carlos gulped once more when he realized that all eyes were on him and Stephanie.

"Where are the guys and Katie?" Stephanie whispered as the two walked over to the orange couch.

"Standing behind the wall listening to hear what's going on," Carlos whispered back. "We do that every time that someone comes over and Mrs. Knight tells us to leave the room."

"I didn't know you guys were eavesdroppers," Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Maybe I should keep that in mind the next time us girls want to talk without you guys around."

Carlos managed a smile, but then it faded when he looked over at Mr. King. The man had always been so easy-going, so laid back, always joking with Carlos when he came by to hang out in 7K or to take Stephanie o a date. He had always been very accepting of Carlos, after Stephanie had come back from the dance and told him about how much fun they had at the dance together. Carlos had expected him to be like most fathers, threatening him with a shotgun and bodily harm if he ever did anything to hurt Stephanie. But Mr. King had practically thrown money into Carlos's hand and told him to make sure that Stephanie had a good time (within reason). From what Stephanie said, it was because her father trusted Carlos from everything that Stephanie had told her father about him.

Now he was about to drop a bombshell.

He wanted to do nothing but pass out or die.

Anything that would keep him from having to say what he was going to say.

"Dog, speak," Gustavo snapped after a few moments of silence. "Kelly and I have a lot of work to do on your next album, so we can't sit here all day playing guessing games."

"Uh," Carlos rubbed the back of his neck, letting go of Stephanie's hand. He immediately missed the warmth and comfort of her touch. "Well, we have something…really important that we need to tell you all." He said slowly.

He suddenly started to break out in a sweat, little droplets appearing on his forehead. His hands started to shake and his heart felt like it was going to explode. Stephanie must have noticed, she took a step forward, pushing Carlos behind her, turning to her father.

"Before you get angry," she said slowly. "I want you to know that I love Carlos with all of my heart and that don't think that I can picture myself with anyone else." She took a breath. "I know that you say that I'm too young to know what being in love is, but I really do love him."

"And…and I love her," Carlos managed to croak, looking like he was going to faint. "I love her so much; sometimes I don't know what I would do without her."

"Honey," Mrs. Knight said slowly. "What is it that you want to tell us?" Carlos looked over at her and immediately felt comforted. She always had the way of making anyone, even if she weren't their own mother, feel better. She knew how to adapt to the way that someone else lived to make them feel comforted and that was definitely something that Carlos needed right now.

"Steph's…Stephanie's pregnant," Carlos said slowly, his eyes moving around the room. "We're going to have a baby."

Mrs. Garcia broke into tears almost immediately. They slowly started to roll down her cheeks, and then she was in full-blown hysterics, her hands over her eyes and crying so hard that her shoulders were shaking. Kelly's mouth dropped open and Mrs. Knight's eyes widened. Mr. King, on the other hand, didn't move from the position that he had been sitting in. He just continued to stare at his daughter and her boyfriend.

Gustavo was the only one that reacted in the same way that they had thought.

"WHAT?!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. "PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE JOKING! YOU CAN'T BE PREGNANT!" Carlos could faintly hear Katie's gasps and Kendall, Logan, and James shushing her from around the corner. It was faintly heard over Gustavo's continued ranting. "YOU CAN'T BE THAT STUPID!"

"Gustavo," Kelly said firmly. "Don't call them names because they made a mistake," She reached out and grabbed onto Gustavo's shoulder. "And please calm down; you don't want your blood pressure to sky rocket again."

Gustavo crossed his arms over his chest, his face still red and breathing heavily.

"Daddy?" Stephanie asked, turning to her father. "You haven't said anything," she pointed out. She slowly walked over to him, reaching out and holding onto his hands, studying his face. She could see that he was trying hard not to believe what she had just said, but she knew that she was telling the truth. Stephanie quietly nodding, tightening her grip on her father's hand. "It's true Daddy," she whispered, then moved his hand onto her protruding stomach. "I'm pregnant."

Mr. King gently rubbed his daughter's stomach before putting his hands back in his lap. "How could-"

"YOU BE SO STUPID?!" Gustavo started to yell again. "Have you even thought about the repercussions of your actions?" He leapt to his feet and started to scream right into Carlos's face. "Do you know how badly this is going to reflect on your band? I don't know why, but your fans seem o think that you're squeaky clean guys, it's going to take a miracle to get the gossip on this to stop."

Carlos held up a hand, wanting to say something, but his mother cut him off.

"How could you not tell me this mijo?" She asked tearfully. "You had me come all the way out from Minnesota to tell me that my baby is going to have a baby?" She took a tissue out of her purse and started to wipe at her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Mami," Carlos sincerely apologized. "I didn't mean to hurt you like this."

"You hurt a lot of people," Gustavo continued. "Have you ever-"

"HEY!" Mrs. Knight leapt to her feet, causing Gustavo to finally fall silent. "Ok, I think by now they know that this is a really big mistake," she said. She turned to Carlos and Stephanie, who both nodded in reply. "But I know them well enough to know that they aren't going to run from their problems and that they are responsible enough to figure out what to do on their own." Once again, the two nodded.

"We thought about getting an abortion," Stephanie said, speaking mostly to her father. "But I couldn't do it; it wasn't something that I believed in."

"What about adoption?" Mrs. Garcia asked, still wiping at her eyes. Her sobs had quieted down, but she was still silently crying.

"We talked about that as well," Carlos said slowly. He knew that what he was going to say, they would be skeptical about it. But they had gone this far, they could keep going and say everything that they wanted to say. "And because Stephanie already five months pregnant-"he waited for Gustavo to stop choking, knowing that his music producer was thinking about how long they had kept the secret. "We've decided that we're going to keep the baby."

"Are you sure?" Kelly asked, doubtfully. "You two are still really young, what makes you think that you can handle having a baby this young." She waved a hand at Carlos. "Especially with your career."

"We thought it out, mostly," Carlos admitted. "While I'm still here in LA, I'll be going to school and working on our music like usual; making as much money as I can. And when needed, I can use my debit card to get some baby things."

"And if he is ever on tour, he's going to try and schedule it so that he can come back if he needs to," Stephanie added. "But since you haven't made any new music lately, we figured that some of the shows that you could potentially do will be close enough so that he can help me when I need it."

"I swear, I'm going to be there for her every step of the way through this thing," Carlos said to Mr. King, who nodded slowly. "I have been so far and I'm not going to stop."

"What are you going to do if you're out of town and she goes into labor?" Kelly asked. "It's not like you can cut short what you're doing to go to her."

"Yes, I can," Carlos said incredulously.

"Carlos, your fans-"

"Our real fans will understand that I'm taking responsibility for something that I had a big part in," Carlos interrupted her. "I mean, no disrespect Kelly, but I've already thought about all of this and I've decided that we're going to tell our fans after we told you guys, so there's no rumors or gossip going around. Then we'll just keep going day by day after that."

"Daddy?" Stephanie turned back to her father. "What do you think? I'd be glad if you could help me if I ever need it," she bowed her head. "But I'd understand it if you don't."

Mr. King stood up from his space on the couch and held onto his daughter's shoulders as he tilted her chin up so he could look at her. He studied her for a few moments, his eyes searching hers, before he took a deep breath. He shook his head slightly and then opened and closed his mouth a few times. When he finally figured out what he was going to say, he cleared his throat.

"Stephanie, you're my only daughter," he said in a low voice. "And while I am very disappointed in the way things have turned out, I'm not going to drop you or kick you out. I would never be able to live with myself if I did." Stephanie gave a small smile. "You're my daughter and I love you and I'm going to help you to the best of my abilities."

Stephanie started to cry of happiness as she wrapped her arms around her father's waist, pressing her cheek against his chest. "I love you too, Daddy." She said.

Carlos winced, his shoulders going up to his ears when he noticed that his mother had locked her gaze on him and had gotten up off of the couch. She slowly walked over to Carlos, her eyes still on her son. Carlos gave her a half smile, giving a nervous chuckle when she reached him. But to his surprise, she reached out and gently rubbed his cheek.

"I'm never going to forgive you for making me a grandmother when I'm this young," She said quietly. When Carlos gave her a confused look, she gave him a sharp one in reply, causing him to nod. "Like I said, I'm too young to be a grandmother, but I'm going to love that grandchild more than I can say." She started to cry again.

"Don't cry, Mami," Carlos reached out and wiped her cheeks. "I promise that I'm going to make your proud."

"You already do, mijo," Mrs. Garcia replied.

Gustavo rolled his eyes as he leapt to his feet. He muttered something under his breath as he stomped over towards the front door. He ripped open the door to the apartment before slamming it shut behind him. He closed the door so hard that it sent a shockwave around the room, breaking the glass on the refrigerator doors. Carlos's shoulders slumped at Gustavo's reaction. He didn't think that Gustavo was going to take it well, but he didn't think that he was going to storm out. Carlos looked over at Kelly and was surprised to see that she looked just as angry as Gustavo was. It really hurt him to see the disappointed look on her face. Even when she was sucked into whatever plan that Kendall had or whatever scheme that James and Carlos came up with…or the kind of chaos that the four boys managed to get into, she was never angry or disappointed about their antics. But now, it seemed like she was starting to wonder how Gustavo could put up with them.

"Kelly," he started.

"Carlos, you should really think about how this is going to affect everyone," Kelly said as she got up from the couch. "Not just you and Stephanie, but the other guys too." She then turned on her heel and followed Gustavo out of the apartment.

Stephanie reached over and grabbed onto Carlos's hand. She had never seen her boyfriend so miserable, not even when he was being bossed around by the Jennifers to be three separate dates for their first dance at the PalmWoods. Stephanie smiled to herself. That night was their first date, and they had been close ever since. She remembered how excited she was when he first asked her out, officially. She was starting to think that she was going to have to do it, because she was the one that had asked him to be her date to the dance and she was the one that had asked him to hang out with her a couple of times, hoping that she could hint to him that she liked him. She had even gone to Jo and Camille to see if she was doing anything wrong, as they were much more girly than she was. When the two had reassured her that she was fine, she then went to James, Kendall, and Logan to get a guys perspective. James said that she should wait for Carlos to ask her out, Kendall said that she should just go ahead and ask him, and Logan was the only one that was indecisive about the whole thing. (But as James explained it, Logan had never been in a relationship before so he wasn't going to be helpful).

Now here they were; her father and his mother were accepting of their situation. They still weren't exactly sure about Mrs. Knight, but assumed that she was at least proud that he was taking responsibility for it, and Gustavo and Kelly were beyond angry and disappointed.

As far as she was concerned, as long as she wasn't kicked out of her house, things were fine.

Now all they had to do was tell their fans.

"When is your next appointment?" Mr. King asked his daughter.

"In a couple of weeks," Stephanie said with a sigh. "We're going to learn the sex of the baby at that appointment." She lifted her head and looked at her father. "Are you sure that you're going to be ok with this?" She asked.

"I'm always going to see you as my little girl, and knowing that my little girl is going to have a little baby is going to be hard for me to get used to," Mr. King said honestly. He then spoke to Carlos. "But as long as I know that you love her as much as you do and that you're going to be there for her, then I know that she's in capable hands."

He held out a hand.

Carlos looked at it, startled, before reaching out and taking it in his, shaking it firmly.

He let out a sigh of relief as he looked over at his mother, who was smiling with pride at her son, to Mrs. Knight, who was giving a small smile as well. He was glad that they had their support and while Gustavo and Kelly were mad at him at this moment in time, he knew that they were going to have their support as well. Eventually.

Even if everyone was mad at him at that moment, he didn't care. As long as he had Stephanie and their baby, things were going to be fine.

THE END

A/N: Now all that's left is an epilogue. I hope you guys enjoyed the story, thank you so much for reviewing, alerting, and favoriting it! See you at my next upload and at my current stories!

Cheers,

-Riles